Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design Paperback – October 7, 2014

A book that is relevant far past the urban planner - anyone who wants to thrive with their environment needs to understand what Charles says here! A masterpiece.

I'm not yet finished reading this book but I can already sense that it would further widen my knowledge and perspectives on how people and their elected representatives run their towns and cities in the pursuit of happiness, which of course differs according to one's interests, agenda, and predisposition.

Honestly first third of this book was hard to read. Too much philosophical questions. I wish there were more real-life examples and research between history and philosophy pages.But the rest of the book makes up for it. I was fascinated to read about how proper cities are done, and how such improvements bring life and new experience into citizens' lives.Living in post-USSR, I see a lot of examples of cities done wrong, not for people but for military parades. So it was like a fresh air to read the thoughts I often had about problems that each one encounters in modern city life, and see these problems solved in communities around the world.I really hope author does not give up on this topic, and will bring us more insight in how happy cities work and how they are built, hopefully with more examples from real cities all over the world.Thank you for your hard work and good read, Charles.

As you might expect, the idea that people can be happy in a city doesn't come from the First World--at least today's. "The man who is tired of London is tired of life." --Samuel Johnson.It comes from Enrique and Guillermo Penalosa from Bogota, Colombia. And the amazing thing is that Enrique Penalosa (past mayor of Bogota) is a career politician.Find out what generally makes people happy in a city, then construct the city that way. What an idea. Again as you might expect, what makes people happy is generally NOT what said people think will make them happy. Think of the number of times that you thought a new thing--house, car, music player, large screen TV--would make you happy. And then things were pretty much the same within a couple of weeks of getting said thing.What makes you happy is more likely to be a continuing series of experiences, and most likely experiences with other people. If the way your neighborhood is constructed and managed isolates you from people, you'll have fewer experiences and less happiness. But uncontrolled interaction might be just as bad as no interaction. Details matter.This book is merely an introduction to the idea, but lots of us need the introduction, to learn another way of thinking about the subject. It's only about eleven bucks for your Kindle or Kindle app--buy it and read it.

This is such an important book to read I have recommended it for San Luis Obispo's City Wide Read for 2018. The book covers so many aspects of urban living but most important--how getting out of our cars and traveling on foot or by bicycle makes us happier. Montgomery shows how organizing our housing and neighborhoods to be social and trusting (convivial) rather than isolated and fearful will make us happier. He also demonstrates that disincentivizing car ownership can have a very positive effect on life satisfaction and make life safer for all of us, particularly children. If nothing else, read about the mayor of Bogota, Enrique Penalosa promoted bike ways in his city. Inspiring.

Throughly enjoyed this book. A lot of urban design books are written in a dry manner; Montgomery does a great job keeping attention through his prose. The stories were relevant and on point, if not a bit recycled for other sources. His assessment is strong, but you couldn't call it objective. He uses many points in the book to assert his position, mainly around how awful cars are (which, while I don't disagree, is getting old as a rant in these kinds of books).I highly recommend it for any urban studies nerd, and would encourage you to additionally read Walkable City and Street Smarts as companion pieces. Between those three books, they do a great job of giving you the history, the science, the statistics, and the possibilities for the future of smart, happy, walkable cities.

Excelente referencia para planificadores y diseñadores urbanos.