Book Review: Triumph of the City

If you were looking for a book which puts unbridled support into words for the thought that a city, or actually urban density, is good for mankind, then this is it. Offering many examples, thoughts and ideas, Glaeser, a Professor of Economics at Harvard, attempts to show that success for a city is tied to growth, which is tied to affordable housing and that success requires clustering to facilitate the exchange of ideas. Skyscrapers play an important role when it comes to embracing growth as a way to create space when horizontal expansion is not an option. Although much in the book appears to make sense, and the general ideas of the book are right up the alley of everyone who feels comfortable in a dense urban environment and around tall buildings, it also suffers a bit from factoids. Especially when Glaeser discusses tall buildings, he tends to generalize or even simplify the matter. But for most of us, this book will most likely be entertaining to read.