DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Good City

Reflections and Imaginations

Allan B Jacobs author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:15th Mar '11

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

This paperback is available in another edition too:

The Good City cover

Cities, Allan B. Jacobs contends, ought to be magnificent, beautiful places to live. They should be places where people can be fulfilled, where they can be what they can be, where there is freedom, love, ideas, excitement, quiet and joy. Cities ought to be the ultimate manifestation of society’s collective achievements.

Allan B. Jacobs is one of the world’s best known planners and urban design practitioners, with a long and distinguished international career. Drawing on his professional experience of almost sixty years, Jacobs guides the reader through the lessons he’s learnt as a planner and lover of cities. Cities from Brazil, Italy, India, Japan, China and the US are featured.

Written with a wonderfully engaging, humorous tone and Jacobs’ own drawings, The Good City transfers lessons on city design, building and urban change to all those willing to help cities become the magnificent, beautiful places they should be - and encourages all inhabitants to learn to appreciate and explore their own cities.


"This is a candid, refreshing book, made even better by drawings that Jacobs has been making on sketch pads throughout his career. Read The Good City and you just might avoid making the world a more soulless place." -Better! Cities & Towns


"Allan Jacobs is a great planner who cares deeply about cities and loves the people who inhabit them. His essays capture decades of observations and wisdom, and are an essential read for every urbanist" - Gary Hack, Professor of City & Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania, USA


"The Good City is a personal panoramic tour taking us from Calcutta to San Francisco and covering over half a century. Its author, Allan Jacobs, the urban flâneur "par excellence," reflects on his experience observing cities. This is a must read for any urbanist." -Nezar AlSayyad, Professor of Architecture, Planning, and Urban Design, University of California, Berkeley, USA


"This is a candid, refreshing book, made even better by drawings that Jacobs has been making on sketch pads throughout his career. Read The Good City and you just might avoid making the world a more soulless place." -Better! Cities & Towns

"Allan Jacobs is a great planner who cares deeply about cities and loves the people who inhabit them. His essays capture decades of observations and wisdom, and are an essential read for every urbanist" - Gary Hack, Professor of City & Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania, USA

"The Good City is a personal panoramic tour taking us from Calcutta to San Francisco and covering over half a century. Its author, Allan Jacobs, the urban flâneur "par excellence," reflects on his experience observing cities. This is a must read for any urbanist." -Nezar AlSayyad, Professor of Architecture, Planning, and Urban Design, University of California, Berkeley, USA

"Once again, esteemed professor of planning Allan B. Jacobs has written a very engaging and thought-provoking planning text... Reading like a memoir, The Good City is an excellent book for thoughtful planners who want to think long and hard about their personal and professional ties to cities where they have lived and worked."- Annalise Fonza, Journal of Planning Education and Research 32(4)

ISBN: 9780415593533

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 453g

198 pages