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

Le Droit à la ville (Right to the City) Henri Lefebvre On Michael Sorkin’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Crossing the BLVD: Strangers, Neighbors, Aliens in a New America Warren Lehrer et al. On list of Books by Warren Lehrer Add to My Reading List	Theorizing the City Setha M. Low On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Image of the City Kevin Lynch On Philip Freelon’s Book List On Zuzana Licko’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Designs on the Land Alex MacLean On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Quotidiano sostenibile Ezio Manzini et al. On Paolo Deganello’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design with Nature Ian McHarg On Michael Manfredi’s Book List On Craig Dykers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Politics, Planning, and the Public Interest Martin Meyerson et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Urban Traffic: A Function of Land Use R. B. Mitchell et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	You Have to Pay for the Public Life Charles, W. Moore et al. On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	In the Life of Cities Mohsen Mostafavi, ed. On list of Books by Mohsen Mostafavi On Hugh Hardy’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The City in History Lewis Mumford On Michael Sorkin’s Book List On Carlo Ratti’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Culture of Cities Lewis Mumford On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Highway and the City Lewis Mumford On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Wealth of Cities John Norquist On Andrés Duany’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Istanbul Orhan Pamuk On Nathalie de Vries’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Scarp Nick Papdimitriou On Alan Balfour’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Private Future Martin Pawley On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Supercrit #2—Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown Kester Rattenbury et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	As I Was Saying Colin Rowe On Richard Meier’s Book List On Enrique Norten’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Idea of a Town Joseph Rykwert On Phyllis Lambert’s Book List On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture Carl E. Schorske On Abbott Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	American Architecture and Urbanism Vincent Scully On Norman Foster’s Book List On Andrés Duany’s Book List On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Miami Modern Metropolis Allan T. Shulman, ed. On Jeffrey Beers’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Personal Space Robert Sommer On Niels Diffrient’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Twenty Minutes in Manhattan Michael Sorkin On Paul Goldberger’s Book List On list of Books by Michael Sorkin Add to My Reading List	Paradise Planned Robert A.M. Stern et al. On Witold Rybczynski’s Notable Books of 2013 list Add to My Reading List	Design Like You Give a Damn Kate Stohr and Cameron Sinclair of Architecture for Humanity, eds. On Zoë Ryan’s Book List On list of Books by Kate Stohr Add to My Reading List	The 100 Mile City Deyan Sudjic On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Patrick Geddes in India Jacqueline Tyrwhitt On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Town Planning in Practice Raymond Unwin On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List On Witold Rybczynski’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Everyday America Chris Wilson et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Family and Kinship in East London Michael Young et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Making of Classical Edinburgh 1750–1840 Alexander John Brown Youngson On Alan Balfour’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Sense of the City Mirko Zardini, ed. On Phyllis Lambert’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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