The Unfinished Metropolis

Igniting the City-Building Revolution

Benjamin Schneider

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English

Island Press
21 October 2025

Consider your surroundings. Maybe you're in a house or in an apartment building. Maybe you're at a desk in an office building, or in a cafe looking out on a lively main street. The urban landscape is not simply the backdrop to your life. It determines, to a remarkable degree, what kind of life you're able to live. Today, the horizons of American life are constrained by a built environment that has not significantly changed since the 1970s.

American cities used to constantly evolve, experimenting with new urban designs and ambitious infrastructure projects, from railroads and subways to public housing and shopping malls. But now we keep pursuing the same 20th century urban development plans-freeways, downtown office towers, suburban housing developments. This pattern is why Americans are so dependent on their cars, why housing is so expensive and homelessness is at crisis levels, and why downtowns are struggling and communities are fraying.

In The Unfinished Metropolis, Benjamin Schneider argues that city-building is a lost art. We need to embrace new transportation technologies, new types of housing, new ways to use streets other than for cars and parking. In this insightful and entertaining tour of the built environment, Schneider explores common urban designs that shape our lives and color our cultural imagination: office parks, apartments, single family homes, and transit systems. He explains how these forms came to be, why they no longer function as promised, and introduces readers to the advocates and professionals around the country who are working on transformative new solutions. Learrung from past mistakes, we can remake our cities and create better lives for ourselves and future generations.

By: Benjamin Schneider
Imprint: Island Press
Country of Publication: United States
ISBN: 9781642833539
ISBN 10: 1642833533
Pages: 296
Publication Date: 21 October 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Benjamin Schneider is a freelance journalist covering all things urbanism. His work has appeared in Bloomberg CityLab, MIT Technology Review, Slate, The Nation, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. Born and raised in San Francisco, Schneider has lived in Los Angeles, Manhattan, and Washington, D.C. He currently lives in Brooklyn with his fiancee.

Reviews for The Unfinished Metropolis: Igniting the City-Building Revolution

""'We've forgotten that our cities are never finished.' With this clarion call, Ben Schneider pulls back the curtain on the perverse system of growth--mostly non-growth--that is the hidden force behind so many American ills. Reading this book is a great first step to unleashing the YIMBY revolution in your stunted town.""----Jeff Speck, FAICP, author of 'Walkable City' ""A book of startling scope and enthralling ambition. Schneider shows how individual choices--from housing to transportation, parking meters to malls--weave the fabric of urban experience. This beautifully written testament to the power of city-building is part history, part quiet manifesto. It's a book you want to press on anyone who hopes to guide the future of our cities with a fuller, wiser understanding of their past.""----Nathan Heller, staff writer, 'The New Yorker' ""Part urban history, part wide-ranging contemporary tale, this book is a masterful exploration of how Americans live now--and the innovations taking place to make urbanism blossom at scales large and small, offering options for people of all incomes and needs.""----John King, author of 'Portal: San Francisco's Ferry Building and the Reinvention of American Cities' ""Schneider reminds us that the hallmark of cities has always been making room, literally, for new ideas, and that creativity and cooperation at the local level remain the recipe for success. Here's hoping the next generation of leaders will listen.""----Alexandra Lange, Pulitzer Prize winning critic and author of 'Meet Me By the Fountain' ""The nation that pioneered the building of the modern city has forgotten how to dream big and who it was building cities for. The Unfinished Metropolis reveals the city-planning patterns that created and perpetuate the urban crises we now face, reminding us that our greatest cities are the ones that we build together.""----Janette Sadik-Khan, Bloomberg Associates, former Commissioner, New York City Department of Transportation