Description
'Counterintuitive, funny and provocative . . . We could all use a little more of Fitzgerald's scepticism.' Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times
'Like Jon Ronson on town planners . . . Endlessly funny and seriously smart.' John Grindrod
Cities are bad for us: polluted, noisy and fundamentally unnatural. We need green space, not concrete. Trees, not tower blocks. So goes the argument. But is it true? What would the city of the future look like if we tried to build a better life from the ground up? And would anyone want to live there?
Here, Des Fitzgerald takes us on an urgent, unforgettable journey into the future of urban life, from shimmering edifices in the Arizona desert to forest-bathing in deepest Wales, and from rats in mazes to neuroscientific studies of the effects of our surroundings. Along the way, he reveals the deep-lying and often controversial roots of today's green city movement, and offers an argument for celebrating our cities as they are - in all their raucous, constructed and artificial glory.
An unmissable journey into the past, present and future of urban life.
About the Author
Des Fitzgerald is professor of medical humanities and social sciences at University College Cork. He was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize for sociology in 2017, and named a 'New Generation Thinker' by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. He lives in Cork.
Book Information
ISBN 9780571362219
Author Des Fitzgerald
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint Faber & Faber
Publisher Faber & Faber
Weight(grams) 402g
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 143mm * 26mm
