Book review: Triumph of the City

A Triumph of the City, by Edward Glaeser, is a thrilling and very readable hymn of praise to an invention so vast and so effective that it is generally taken for granted. More than half the global population already live in urban areas and within twenty years, five million more will flood into the cities of the developed and developing worlds. The crowds and pollution and noise that choke modern cities may horrify us. They shouldn’t, says Glaeser: they are signs of growth, energy, and aspir...