
City
A Guidebook for the Urban Age
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Narrated by:
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Steven Crossley
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By:
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P. D. Smith
For the first time in the history of our planet, more than half the population - 3.3 billion people - is now living in cities. City is the ultimate guidebook to our urban centers - the signature unit of human civilization. With erudite prose, this unique work of metatourism explores what cities are and how they work. It covers history, customs and language, districts, transport, money, work, shops and markets, and tourist sites, creating a fantastically detailed portrait of the city through history and into the future.
The urban explorer will revel in essays on downtowns, suburbs, shantytowns and favelas, graffiti, skylines, crime, the theater, street food, sport, eco-cities, and sacred sites, as well as mini essays on the Tower of Babel, flash mobs, ghettos, skateboarding, and SimCity, among many others.
Acclaimed author and independent scholar P. D. Smith explores what it was like to live in the first cities, how they have evolved, and why in the future, cities will play an even greater role in human life.
©2012 P.D. Smith (P)2013 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...




















A brief history of humanity up until now!
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Commuters companion
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for all the city dwellers
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Not Right for an Audiobook
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Worth it
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Very interesting! I would absolutely recommend! I'd like to read more by this author. Audio performance was great as well.
Loved it!
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If you are very interested in cities' history, components, planning and other thinkers' philosophies and want to learn more, this is a great read. If you are looking to expand your knowledge on a specific topic though, the nonexistent structure of the chapters will make this book unsuitable.
Also, I would have wished for deeper analysis and holistic comparisons, which were lacking in the book.
The performance was overall good, however, odd pauses (sometimes too long, sometimes too short) and the many mispronounced foreign words made it less enjoyable than it could have been.
Nonetheless, overall I recommend this book.
Overall and enjoyable And informative read
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Whirlwind tour of cities - past, present, future
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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I really loved this book. Great overview of essentially urban geography and urban history. I really appreciate the way the book is organized by different aspects of the city (Train station, slums, marketplaces, etc.). Author provides wonderful historical context balanced with current urban trends and future speculation of urban life and development. I would recommend it for any student or practitioner of geography, anthropology or sociology.Who was your favorite character and why?
N/A - non-fictionWonderful!
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This is not a book of fresh thinking to save the city, it is a book that contemplates and surveys humanity's fascination with its own creation. P.D. Smith takes the reader from Mohenjo-daro to Blade Runner with many stops in between. I appreciate the well researched and non-chonological story telling, linking many similar experiences through the ages.
Fascinating and saturated with citation, this is likely a book that will leave you lost in contemplation and bring you back to its chapters many times after your first read. I would suggest the physical book for skimming afterwards but the audiobook performance was enjoyable still.
An excellent survey of city life through the ages
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