Happy City

I like the way Montgomery connects the rich and varied happiness research to discuss how to design better cities. The book is packed with information, but the wealth of examples from Montgomery’s experiences in many different settings kept me engaged and entertained all through.

This is the best place to begin if you want to understand the new urbanism movement. 

In Happy City, Charles, who is also is a good friend of mine, describes what is wrong with today’s cities and what we must do to fix them. Full of rich detail and new insights from psychologists and his own urban experiments, the book is an essential tool for understanding and improving our own communities. The message: by retrofitting our cities for happiness, we can tackle the urgent challenges of our age. The happy city, the green city, and the low-carbon city are the same place, and we can all help build them together.

This accomplished journalist documents how the behavioral sciences help us “see our city streets, hearts, and mobility systems as emotional infrastructure that can make or break the health or happiness of our citizens.” Like Mumford, he traces the Good Life Aristotle ascribed to the city to the agora of Classical Greece, a place where market demands and civic virtue intertwined. Such spaces foster the face-to-face relationships that define happiness, and the Happy City is invested in the sidewalk ballet. It is also a green city that builds on Olmsted’s insights. Networks of small greens and native landscaping provide the… show more.