Synopsis
Through Paris, New York City, Toronto, North Vancouver, and Singapore, this examination depicts how the architectural evolutions of major cities have changed the lives of their ordinary citizens—in both positive and negative ways. According to this account, making a metropolis navigable by foot again is crucial, and it suggests how people can reorganize their personal lives in order to make this possible again. From Baron George Eugene Haussmann and his ruthless transformation of Paris to the redevelopment of North America to adapt to automobiles, this chronicle investigates the dramatic changes that have occurred in the past 200 years, providing a valuable critique of the ideas regarding how cities should be designed.
The Barnes & Noble Review
In the best chapter of The Walkable City: From Haussmann s Boulevards to Jane Jacobs Streets and Beyond, Mary Soderstrom visits Carlsbad, California, where Betty York is recovering from a double-bypass surgery. York s doctor has instructed her to do the simplest thing in the world: walk. In a world of exquisitely complex medical technology, it is a comfortingly simple therapy. Twenty minutes a day, three days a week. But Carlsbad is all roads and no sidewalks. York fears that she s not as spry as she once was. She worries about cars. And that s when I became a mall walker, she recalls.