Fjellfolk.

Reading List

Support your community and the vibrance of your city by purchasing at your local bookstore. For those here in Copenhagen I can wholeheartedly recommend Books & Company in Hellerup for all your literary needs.

Sustainability

Modern man does not experience himself as a part of nature but as an outside force destined to dominate and conquer it.

  • Small is Beautiful, E.F. Schumacher
    • A treasure-trove of writings from Schumacher, published in 1973, acting a bible for all things local and sympathetic to the overexploited natural capital which underpins our unsustainable march towards ecological exhaustion.
  • This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, Naomi Klein
  • Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist, Kate Raworth
    • I love models and frameworks, and Kate has defined an accessible and comprehensive framework in her incredibly impactful book. The donut has been applied in communities, villages, towns and cities across the world to empower local people to lead the way in transitioning to a more sustainable future.
  • Silent Spring, Rachel Carson
    • Needs little introduction – this is the book on ecology and environment, which sparked the modern environmental movement.

Urbanism

  • The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs
    • A book which needs little introduction. Jacobs adopts a pugnacious tone throughout this famously critical and extensive book in which she critiques the trend towards renovation & modernism in the context of 1960s New York, and argues for diversity, human-centricity and community as the cornerstones of urbanism.
  • A Pattern Language, Christopher Alexander
    • For those, like me, with a background in software engineering and systems architecture, but with the architecture of building and the build environment as an avocation, this book is a revelation. The book presents a taxonomy of reusable design elements for the built environment at every scale. The authors envisioned a democratisation of the trade of architecture, where anybody could apply a robust set of design patterns to design their home, garden or city. The book inspired a new approach to software architecture which is now almost universally applied to systems engineering projects in companies from investment banks to big tech.
  • Cities for People, Jan Gehl
    • Jan Gehl is a living legend in urbanism, and he has written widely about the notion of design cities from a human perspective. Of all of his books (that I have read), Cities for People stands out. Surely a must read!
  • The City in History, Lewis Mumford
    • A lovely retrospective of the evolution of the city. As with many urbanism texts, Mumford presents his own philosophy for the future of our cities as organic reflections of human culture & activity: a fine philosophy to remember in the age of the smart city, where technology, applied carelessly, threatens the fundamental humanity of our cities.
  • Order without Design: How Markets Shape Cities, Alain Bertaud
    • A powerful examination of urban economics and planning to explain how market forces play a huge role in shaping cities.
  • Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution, Janette Sadik-Khan and Seth Solomonow
    • An inspiring and practical guide to reimagining city streets with a focus on the role progressive mobility policies play in the development of public spaces. Very accessible and readable.

Landscape Architecture

  • Landscape as Infrastructure, Pierre Bélanger
  • Landscape Architecture: A Manual of Land Planning and Design, John O. Simonds and Barry W. Starke
  • The Landscape Urbanism Reader, Charles Waldheim

Community

  • The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg
    • A celebration and examination of “third places” – cozy cafes, pubs, and parks where people unwind and connet. Explores the impact of those essential hangout spots beyond home and work on the act of community building.
  • Palaces for the People, Eric Klinenberg
    • Highlights the importance of social infrastructure – libraries, parks, and community spaces – that bring people together, strengthen neighbourhoods, and make cities more resilient and connected.
  • Building Community: A New Future, Peter Block
    • Explores how to create stronger, connected communities through meaningful conversations, shared purpose, and empowering people to take ownership of their neighbourhoods and collective future.

Housing

  • Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond
  • The Power of Proximity: Moving Beyond Inequality and Racism, Richard Rothstein
  • The Affordable City, Shane Phillips
  • Home: A Short History of an Idea, Witold Rybczynski
  • Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization, Vaclav Smil

Utopian Urbanism

Smart Cities

Suburbia