A compellingly readable, critically acclaimed, agenda-setting account of how and why cities function as they do and why so many of us choose to live in them



Understanding the modern city and the powerful forces within it is the life’s work of Harvard urban economist Edward Glaeser, who at forty is hailed as one of the world’s most exciting urban thinkers. Travelling from city to city, speaking to planners and politicians across the world, he uncovers questions large and small whose answers are both counterintuitive and deeply significant. Should New Orleans be rebuilt? Why can’t my nephew afford an apartment in New York? Is London the new financial capital of the world? Is my job headed to Bangalore? In Triumph of the City, Glaeser takes us around the world and into the mind of the modern city – from Mumbai to Paris to Rio to Detroit to Shanghai, and to any number of points in between – to reveal how cities think, why they behave in the manners that they do, and what wisdom they share with the people who inhabit them. 'A masterpiece' Steven D. Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics 'A brilliant read: persuasive and provocative' Time Out 'Replete with lightly borne learning, this is a tremendous book' Bryan Appleyard, Literary Review 'Fascinating' Sunday Telegraph 'Comprehensive, compelling and strongly recommended" Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist and Adapt 'A hymn to the city' Metro