The Freedom of the City

Long-forgotten landscape architect Charles Downing Lay's passion for all things city is brilliantly rediscovered by urbanist Tom Campanella. Campanella's elegantly composed introduction and essay alone are worth the price of admission. --Jerold S. Kayden, Frank Backus Williams Professor of Urban Planning and Design, Harvard University Graduate School of Design Campanella's revival of The Freedom of the City spotlights our perennial amnesia regarding the value of urban density. Every generation of Americans, it seems, needs reminding that the city--crowded, congested, and often chaotic--is also a place of joyous social friction. As many again question the relevance of urbanism in this new age of hybrid work, Lay and Campanella remind us that true freedom emanates from city streets, not glowing screens. --Vishaan Chakrabarti, Founder and Creative Director, Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) Thank you, Tom Campanella, for unearthing The Freedom of the City and adding some much-needed fuel to the urbanist cause. NIMBYism rages on, stoking tragically unsustainable anti-urban rhetoric, and books like this help us keep up the good fight. We need to love our cities fiercely. What this book shows is that the reason to collect ourselves in dense, walkable cities is not just because we have to, but because we want to. --Emily Talen, Professor of Urbanism, University of Chicago