Welcome to the Urban Revolution

How Cities Are Changing the World

By Jeb Brugmann

For the readers who made bestsellers out of Edge City or The Rise of the Creative Class, a powerful reappraisal of the role of cities and their inhabitants in solving global problems.

The revolutions that have taken place around the world during the last fifty years-the ousting of Marcos and the Shah of Iran; the fall of communist regimes in Eastern Europe; the end of Apartheid in South Africa and, indeed, the civil rights revolution in America-were fundamentally urban revolutions. They were the revolutions of Manila, Teheran, Gdansk, Leipzig, Berlin, Johannesburg and Detroit, muscular assertions of new classes of city-dwellers intent on ending their marginalization as they struggled to build their new livelihoods, freedoms and communities in cities. In Welcome to the Urban Revolution, Jeb Brugmann argues that the city itself had become our era's medium for revolutionary change: not only political, but technological as well. Though we think of them as a hotbed for poverty and crime, cities are not just a source of problems and conflict. They can also be a source of solutions to the major problems of our day: poverty, social inequality and environmental sustainability.

In Welcome to the Urban Revolution Brugmann will show what is unique and important about cities and how they grow, the ways global issues are being solved in individual cities, and how real people are living with urban migration day in and day out.

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 for Welcome to the Urban Revolution:

“[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

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Welcome to the Urban Revolution

How Cities Are Changing the World