Chosen Books

Invited designers and commentators have chosen these as the books that inspire them and that have shaped their worldview or their ideas about design.

author a–z

Nonfiction, Urban Design

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75 books

The American City from the Civil War to the New Deal On Alan Balfour’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mayhew’s London On Alan Balfour’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Twenty Years at Hull-House Jane Addams On Matali Crasset’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Imagined Cities: Urban Experience and the Language of the Novel Robert Alter On Julie Iovine’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Pop-Up City Jeroen Beekmans et al. On David Rockwell’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Horizons Norman Bel Geddes On Craig Hodgetts’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Origins of Modern Town Planning Leonardo Benevolo On Phyllis Lambert’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Kinshasa: Tales of the Invisible City Filip de Boeck et al. On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Journeys: How Travelling Fruit, Ideas and Buildings Rearrange our Environment Giovanna Borasi, ed. On Phyllis Lambert’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Learning from Hangzhou Mathieu Borysevicz On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Cities of the World Georg Braun et al. On Richard Saul Wurman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Plan of Chicago, 1909 Daniel Hudson Burnham et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Concrete Dragon Thomas J. Campanella On Nathalie de Vries’s Book List On Julie Iovine’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Power Broker Robert Caro On Nancye Green’s Book List On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Re-cycle Pippo Ciorra, ed. On Paolo Deganello’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Concise Townscape Gordon Cullen On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Zone 1/2 Michel Feher et al. On Terence Riley’s Book List On Neil Denari’s Book List On Greg Lynn’s Book List Add to My Reading List	People and Plans Herbert J. Gans On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Levittowners Herbert J. Gans On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	City of Darkness Greg Girard et al. On Giuseppe Lignano’s Book List On Ada Tolla’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Communitas Percival Goodman et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Infrastructure Brian Hayes On Deborah Berke’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Invention of Tradition Eric Hobsbawm et al. On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Tokyo Suburbia Takashi Homma On Florian Idenburg’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Location and Space Economy Walter Isard On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Discovering the Vernacular Landscape John Brinckerhoff Jackson On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes John Brinckerhoff Jackson On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Death and Life of Great American Cities Jane Jacobs On Norman Foster’s Book List On Zack McKown’s Book List On Andrés Duany’s Book List On Paul Goldberger’s Book List On Craig Dykers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Economy of Cities Jane Jacobs On Michael Sorkin’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Solution 239–246 Martti Kalliala et al. On Anthony Dunne’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Metropolis: Center and Symbol of Our Times Philip Kasinitz On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Energy and Form Ralph L. Knowles On Niels Diffrient’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Delirious New York Rem Koolhaas On Terence Riley’s Book List On Adam Tihany’s Book List On Andrés Duany’s Book List On Jeanne Gang’s Book List On Mohsen Mostafavi’s Book List On Galia Solomonoff’s Book List On Phil Patton’s Current Reading list On Aric Chen’s Book List On Michael Rock’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping Rem Koolhaas et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	History Builds the Town Arthur Korn On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Beer Can by the Highway John A. Kouwenhoven On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Three Essays on Town Planning Paul Kriesis On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon Harvey Kubernik Add to My Reading List	Charter of the New Urbanism Michael Leccese et al. On Andrés Duany’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Object to Be Destroyed: The Work of Gordon Matta-Clark Pamela M. Lee On Christian Wassmann’s Book List Add to My Reading List

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Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

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Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future

By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022

Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.

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Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman

Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People

By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022

Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.

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Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

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Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022

Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”

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Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)

By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

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