A compellingly readable, critically acclaimed,
agenda-setting account of how and why cities function as they do and why so many of us
choose to live in them
Understanding the modern city and the powerful forces within it
is the life’s work of Harvard urban economist Edward Glaeser, who at forty is hailed as
one of the world’s most exciting urban thinkers. Travelling from city to city, speaking
to planners and politicians across the world, he uncovers questions large and small whose
answers are both counterintuitive and deeply significant. Should New Orleans be rebuilt?
Why can’t my nephew afford an apartment in New York? Is London the new financial capital
of the world? Is my job headed to Bangalore? In Triumph of the City, Glaeser takes us
around the world and into the mind of the modern city – from Mumbai to Paris to Rio to
Detroit to Shanghai, and to any number of points in between – to reveal how cities
think, why they behave in the manners that they do, and what wisdom they share with the
people who inhabit them. 'A masterpiece' Steven D. Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics 'A
brilliant read: persuasive and provocative' Time Out 'Replete with lightly borne learning,
this is a tremendous book' Bryan Appleyard, Literary Review 'Fascinating' Sunday Telegraph
'Comprehensive, compelling and strongly recommended" Tim Harford, author of The
Undercover Economist and Adapt 'A hymn to the city' Metro
Edward Glaeser
is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of
Economics at Harvard University. He has spent his career studying the economics of cities,
examining key issues such as housing, segregation, crime and urban innovation, and writing
about them for Economix,The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He serves as the
director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute
for Greater Boston and is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
456 pages, Paperback