Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City

A reflection on the past and present of city life, and a bold proposal for its future

“Constantly stimulating ideas from a veteran of urban thinking.”—Jonathan Meades, The Guardian

In this sweeping work, the preeminent sociologist Richard Sennett traces the anguished relation between how cities are built and how people live in them, from ancient Athens to twenty-first-century Shanghai. He shows how Paris, Barcelona, and New York City assumed their modern forms; rethinks the reputations of...