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Vishaan Chakrabarti
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A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America Hardcover – May 30, 2013

by Vishaan Chakrabarti (Author), SHoP Architects (Illustrator), Norman Foster (Foreword)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 59 ratings
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“Chakrabarti has written a wonderful book about the potential of America’s cities. He argues convincingly how the country would benefit economically and environmentally if the suburbs started to move back to the cities, and he offers specific policy suggestions to accomplish that objective. Read this book, and you’ll want to live in a city.” –Former US Senator Bill Bradley

In A Country of Cities, author Vishaan Chakrabarti argues that well-designed cities are the key to solving America's great national challenges: environmental degradation, unsustainable consumption, economic stagnation, rising public health costs and decreased social mobility. If we develop them wisely in the future, our cities can be the force leading us into a new era of progressive and prosperous stewardship of our nation. In compelling chapters, Chakrabarti brings us a wealth of information about cities, suburbs and exurbs, looking at how they developed across the 50 states and their roles in prosperity and globalization, sustainability and resilience, and heath and joy. Counter to what you might think, American cities today are growing faster than their suburban counterparts for the first time since the 1920s. If we can intelligently increase the density of our cities as they grow and build the transit systems, schools, parks and other infrastructure to support them, Chakrabarti shows us how both job opportunities and an improved, sustainable environment are truly within our means. In this call for an urban America, he illustrates his argument with numerous infographics illustrating provocative statistics on issues as disparate as rising childhood obesity rates, ever-lengthening automobile commutes and government subsidies that favor highways over mass transit. The book closes with an eloquent manifesto that rallies us to build “a Country of Cities,” to turn a country of highways, houses and hedges into a country of trains, towers and trees.

Vishaan Chakrabarti is an architect, scholar and founder of PAU. PAU designs architecture that builds the physical, cultural, and economic networks of cities, with an emphasis on beauty, function and user experience. PAU simultaneously advances strategic urbanism projects in the form of master planning, tactical project advice and advocacy.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    252 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Metropolis Books
  4. Publication date
    May 30, 2013
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1935202170
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1935202172
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Step aside, suburban sprawl: America's cities are growing at a pace unseeen for the past century. This expansion warrants an evaluation of how these hubs can sustainably support their citizens in the future. Hotshot Columbia professor and SHoP patner Vishaan Chakrabarti provides compelling arguments - complemented by smart infographics - for mass-transit systems and public parks. -- Jordan Kushins ― Surface Magazine

Architect, planner, and one-time developer Vishaan Chakrabarti asks us to imagine a United States in which government invests in high-speed trains linking high-density cities and does not subsidize suburban sprawl. He admits this sounds a bit naive in an era of political paralysis and at a time when the middle class and wealthy - no matter their political affiliation - enjoy perks like the mortgage- interest deduction that help perpetuate the status quo. But he builds his argument with straightforward prose and lots of easy-to-read charts and graphs. -- Clifford A. Pearson ― Architectural Record

The author, a partner at SHOP Architects in New York, lays out his case for why the entire United States must embrace high-density urbanization (defined as 10 or more dwellings per hectare) as the only feasible way to resuscitate the economy and overall public wellness. He pits his version of the American Dream (living in a city with access to well-designed mixed-income housing, mass transit and an array of services) against what he calls the American Scheme (owning a big suburban house, and driving your gas-guzzling SUV on the highway to get home to it every day). This impassioned manifesto, with a foreword by Norman Foster, is complemented by wondeful drawings from his colleagues at SHOP, including one that shows the entire world population fitting into the state of Texas to illustrate that, yes, we can and should use our land resources more wisely. -- Elizabeth Pagliacolo ― Azure

In the world of urbanism and planning, there’s been a barrage of recent books on similar themes….But Mr. Chakrabarti has written maybe the most useful one, a polemic in favour of city living that makes the stakes clear. -- Alex Bozikovic ― Toronto Globe & Mail

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Metropolis Books; 6.1.2013 edition (May 30, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 252 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1935202170
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1935202172
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.16 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 59 ratings

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Vishaan Chakrabarti

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
59 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

College Senior
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Insight
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2013
Verified Purchase
This is a tremendously thoughtful and well researched book. The authors offers a compelling argument about why we as Americans should be advocating for denser urban development, while outlining his thoughts on how our country could implement these changes. He showcases the great advantages of the urban-orientated lifestyle as it compares to the status-qou we find ourselves in by illuminating many of the inherent and often subtle flaws in our suburban environment. Also, to go along with the facts the authors uses very simple, yet helpful diagrams that aids the reader in understanding many of the figures and statistics used throughout the book. I highly recommend this to anyone with a passion for cities, architecture, economics, and anyone looking for a fresh perspective on our national landscape.
8 people found this helpful
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CAB23
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book.
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2018
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This book is easy to read, well written and well researched. He is able to articulate what many of us feel but never could understand about the effect of urban sprawl on our lives and the planet- and very interestingly where it all started.
2 people found this helpful
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Lastgiantrobot
3.0 out of 5 stars Socialism by another name
Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2015
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It is a very well made book but is painfully biased towards market intervention; to the point that the author actually praises public housing projects... And he cherry picks data and figures to support his beliefs while brushing aside those who champion a more free market approach to land development. Furthermore he seems to totally ignore the existence of farmers and other agricultural industries in his projections and thinks that green pastures are meant only for idealized Sierra Club type walking vacations. I have lived in Chicago and I have lived in the suburbs and I vastly prefer the suburbs...So read if you agree with the author of if you wish to know what socialism looks like.
One person found this helpful
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Anonymous
4.0 out of 5 stars This is a fantastic book for it's infographics and diagrams which distill complex ...
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2017
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This is a fantastic book for it's infographics and diagrams which distill complex tax structures into understandable terms. But now, in 2017, I found some of the book's material a little dated. Regardless it is a great read for anyone wishing to learn more about the urbanism realm and its possibilities.
One person found this helpful
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D. Clark
5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful book on urban planning
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2014
Verified Purchase
i bought several copies of this book for our local sustainability studies. Chakrabarti maintains that we must drive urban density up to meet the needs of future generations. Beautifully illustrated he makes his point about the larger issues of sustainability and backs it up with science. Academic references abound. Humorous at times, always believable. A great book.
5 people found this helpful
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Mitchell S. Conner
5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource and motivational guide for city planning
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2014
Verified Purchase
This nails the issues for the continued growth and re-purposing of our cities. The ability to educate the masses and to instill confidence in our leaders to implement a planning approach in step with the issues of our time is essential and this book lays out a compelling message to guide that effort.
3 people found this helpful
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Nick Matthews
5.0 out of 5 stars Really helpful in understanding the development of cities, subsidies ...
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2017
Verified Purchase
Really helpful in understanding the development of cities, subsidies, and how to make our cities more efficient and thriving.
One person found this helpful
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Michael Lewyn
3.0 out of 5 stars eloquent but sloppy
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2014
The best 30 or so pages of this book, defending high-rise urbanism, would make an excellent magazine article. Chakrabarti points out that many American urbanists "tend to be enthralled with density yet enraged by real estate development"- and tall buildings in particular. He argues that high-rise buildings can be more environmentally efficient where they facilitate the densities required for large-scale transit use, as in Hong Kong or midtown Manhattan. Moreover, he suggests that low-rise buildings might not be adequate to meet public demand for newer office space or new housing, and that the tax revenue generated by new offices and residents may finance the infrastructure necessary to support them. By contrast, low-rise medium-density neighborhoods, despite their walkability and quaintness, may create the worst of both worlds compared to true cities and suburbs- dense enough to make driving a hassle, yet spread out enough that many of their residents feel the need to drive.

Unfortunately, the early chapters of this book include an enormous amount of sloppiness, both as to facts and as to reasoning. To name a few examples:

*Chakrabarti repeats the old chestnut that streetcars were ruined by a conspiracy of corporations who bought up streetcar lines and then substituted buses for streetcars. This theory has been repeatedly debunked; had he bothered to spend a few minutes on Google he would have learned this.
*To support his claim that cities are more productive, he asserts that 3% of United States land is responsible for 85% of gross domestic product. But his own charts show that this 3% includes not only compact cities but car-dependent suburbs of those cities, thus making this fact irrelevant to his argument.
*He claims that "outsourcing" and the decline of the U.S. educational system were responsible for the decline of economic growth in the 1970s. Is he unaware that energy prices exploded in the 1970s? And he is aware that college education actually became far more common in the 1960s and 1970s? At best, he is presenting a highly unorthodox assertion as if it was settled fact.
*He claims that American prosperity has "declined steadily" since the 1970s when one of his own charts showed that median incomes increased between 1970 and 2000 (though not in the last decade) (p. 190).
I cheerfully concede that all of these claims are irrelevant (or nearly so) to his main argument. But if the reader cannot trust Chakrabarti's use of facts on irrelevant issues, how can you trust his use of charts and facts on the issues that really matter to his claim (such as the environmental virtues of more compact development)?
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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mariana
1.0 out of 5 stars Versão do e-book é péssima
Reviewed in Brazil on July 10, 2015
Verified Purchase
O livro não parece adequado para formato e-book. Não é possível aumentar a fonte, é como um pdf que não pode ser convertido para o formato do e-book. Muito desconfortável para ler. Não recomendo de forma alguma. Melhor comprar o livro impresso.
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Michel Guenet
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on June 14, 2015
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Excellent!!!
Michel
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David W. Oleson
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in Canada on November 20, 2014
Verified Purchase
Excellent manifesto for high-density and mixed-use development in the urban context.
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