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book2011

Triumph of the City

Disciplines:
economics
architecture/urbanism
housing
density

Summary

Edward Glaeser's 2011 celebration of urban density — arguing that cities are humanity's greatest invention because density enables innovation, economic growth, and environmental sustainability, and that restrictive zoning prevents cities from fulfilling this role.

Core Contribution

Creates the economic case for urban density — Triumph of the City synthesizes Glaeser's research to argue that housing affordability, economic growth, and environmental sustainability all improve with higher density, and that the main obstacle is single-family zoning laws driven by incumbent homeowners.

Historical Influences

Jane Jacobs Robert Lucas

Intellectual Lineage

Edward Glaeser Penguin Press

Allied Works

The Death and Life of Great American Cities Order Without Design

Contemporaries & Peers

No recorded contemporaries.

Minds Influenced

YIMBY movement Urban policy debate

Intellectual Posterity

Triumph of the City Anti-zoning economic argument

Discussing

Triumph of the City

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