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.

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Nonfiction, Urban Design

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75 books

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	Infrastructure Brian Hayes On Deborah Berke’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	Imagined Cities: Urban Experience and the Language of the Novel Robert Alter On Julie Iovine’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	The Idea of a Town Joseph Rykwert On Phyllis Lambert’s Book List On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Horizons Norman Bel Geddes On Craig Hodgetts’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 Highway and the City Lewis Mumford On Paul Goldberger’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	Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture Carl E. Schorske On Abbott Miller’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	Everyday America Chris Wilson et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’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	The Economy of Cities Jane Jacobs On Michael Sorkin’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
Designs on the Land Alex MacLean On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’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	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	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	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 Culture of Cities Lewis Mumford On Massimo Vignelli’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	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 Concise Townscape Gordon Cullen On Norman Foster’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	City of Darkness Greg Girard et al. On Giuseppe Lignano’s Book List On Ada Tolla’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	Cities of the World Georg Braun et al. On Richard Saul Wurman’s Book List 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	Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon Harvey Kubernik 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
As I Was Saying Colin Rowe On Richard Meier’s Book List On Enrique Norten’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The American City from the Civil War to the New Deal On Alan Balfour’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

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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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