Atlas of Cities

"This is an atlas with a difference. It broaches the complexity of the urban experience directly and in a beautifully persuasive graphical way, showing how this great variety of city types and features can be explained both chronologically and geographically. A wonderful book of new insights about how our contemporary cities have evolved." --Michael Batty, author of The New Science of Cities "The Atlas of Cities is a major contribution to our understanding of the place of cities in today‘s world. This is a new type of map. It does what words alone cannot do; it makes visible the thick patterns that are cutting across old divides." --Saskia Sassen, Columbia University and author of Expulsions: Brutality and Complexity in the Global Economy "This vibrant book provides an exciting and insightful tour of the cities that are shaping humanity‘s future; every would-be urbanist can learn something from this volume." --Edward Glaeser, author of Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier "‘Form follows function‘ was the watchword of twentieth-century modernists but, as the Atlas of Cities deftly shows, the concept has undergirded city building from the start. From imperial Rome and industrial Manchester to today‘s Asian megacities and border-transcending anomalies like Miami and Dubai, Paul Knox and his talented team of scholars read each city‘s meaning through its built environment. Packed with info-graphics that are often quirky but always relevant, reading the Atlas of Cities is like walking through the world‘s great metropolises--something new to ponder around every corner." --Daniel Brook, author of A History of Future Cities "The Atlas of Cities is an exhaustive and visually captivating field guide to the past history, present tensions, and future transformation of our planet by humanity‘s city builders." --Anthony M. Townsend, author of Smart Cities: Big Data, Civic Hackers, and the Quest for a New Utopia