A powerful reappraisal of the role of cities and their inhabitants in solving global problems, from a leading expert in urban development.

A powerful reappraisal of the role of cities and their inhabitants in solving global problems, from a leading expert in urban development.

In the second half of the twentieth century, revolutions reshaped our world, ”the civil rights movement in America, the fall of the shah in Iran, the collapse of the Soviet bloc, and the end of apartheid in South Africa. All of these revolutions were fundamentally urban. They were the revolutions of Detroit, Gdansk, Berlin, Tehran, and Johannesburg, uprisings of city dwellers intent on ending their marginalization and securing their place in the world economy.

In Welcome to the Urban Revolution, internationally recognized urbanist Jeb Brugmann draws on two decades of fieldwork and research to show how the city is now a medium for revolutionary change. Not just political upheaval but technological, economic, and social innovations are forged in our cities. We may think of cities as hotbeds of crime or engines of globalization, but Brugmann shows how cities are becoming laboratories for solving major challenges of the twenty-first century: poverty, inequality, and environmental sustainability.

Bridging urban studies, economics, and sociology, Brugmann gives us a new way of looking at cities, giving shape to the emerging practice of urbanism. H is positive, unconventional analysis turns traditional ideas about the city on their head.

Jeb Brugmann has been instrumental in urban development in forty nine cities in twenty-one countries, and his work has been recognized by the UN General Assembly, three UN summits, and the UN Climate Secretariat. He is on the faculty of the Cambridge University Business and Environment Program. He lives Toronto with his wife and children.

Advance Praise for Welcome to the Urban Revolution

“Brugmann provides compelling evidence of an often invisible connection between globalization and urbanization. In the process he shines a new light on large cities and urban slums. He shows that slums are dynamic and well functioning economic hubs. Drawing on an exhaustive supply of first hand knowledge, he is about to change the conversation about globalization, economic development, city planning and poverty. If you are interested in challenges of the 21st century, this book is for you.”—C.K. Prahalad, Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor, Ross School of Business, the University of Michigan, author of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits

“Writing from his long on-the-ground global experience, Jeb Brugmann has provided a rich and accessible menu of deep insights, engaging stories, and surprising facts about a world of cities. His Welcome to the Urban Revolution is a prophecy of hope and political challenge to us all.”—Michael Cohen, Director of International Affairs Program, The New School, former Senior Advisor for Environmentally Sustainable Development at the World Bank

“Jeb Brugmann is a strategist of great analytical power. His book is the work of a person who with great acuity captures important moments in cities around the globe. It is a fundamental reference for all those who wish to understand how cities can change the world.”—Jaime Lerner, architect and urban planner, former mayor of Curitiba and governor of Parana state, Brazil; president of International Union of Architects, 2002-2005

Reviews

“[An] important and immensely engaging book…[Brugmann] brings to his writing an intimate street-level understanding of urban processes which echoes that of Jane Jacobs.”—Planetizen.

“Absorbing”—Next American City.

“Totally fascinating.”— Vanessa Bush, Booklist, starred review

“Urbanist Brugmann (Business and Environment/Cambridge Univ.) proposes a transformation in the way we view our cities... worth it for the author’s positive perspective on an extremely broad and challenging issue.”—Kirkus Reviews

“replete with detail and compelling analyses”—Publishers Weekly