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The Center on Global Cities is excited to announce the shortlisted titles for the 2023 Pattis Family Foundation Global Cities Book Award, which celebrates books that deepen our understanding of cities’ role in addressing critical global challenges. The books are timely, elevate the discourse around global cities and global city policy, and resonate with local and global audiences.

Winner 2023 The Pattis Family Foundation Global Cities Book Award

Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias, John Lorinc

Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias book cover

"Dream States goes beyond the concept of a smart city as a utopia for tech companies and prepares us for the impact of technology on the city and residents. This book covers pressing, timely geopolitical issues affecting every city around the world. The book has global impact and can educate a general audience and practitioners. The jury is honored to give the award to a book that fits this moment in time so perfectly."

2023 Finalists

Emergent Tokyo book cover
Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City By Jorge Almazán, Joe McReynolds, and Naoki Saito with StudioLab "Telling human stories reinforces the realities of urban planning and urban design. The book takes the voice of the people and puts it a framework that decision-makers can understand."
The Moving City book cover
The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure By Rashmi Sadana "The book is forward-thinking - when you think of who makes the city, it's not technocrats, it's not urban planners, it's the people. That’s the thinking that's going lead the next 10 years, that's the theme here."
2023 Judges
Eugenie L. Birch
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Nussdorf Professor of Urban Research, University of Pennsylvania and Co-Director, Penn Institute for Urban Research
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Richard C. Longworth
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Distinguished Fellow, Global Cities
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Milag San Jose-Ballesteros
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Regional Director for East, Southeast Asia & Oceania, and Global South Diversity Lead, C40 Cities
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Vineeta Shetty
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Founder, The Smart Citizen
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Alfonso Vegara
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Founder & Honorary President, Fundación Metrópoli
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2023 Shortlist

The winning book will be announced in September 2023 and will receive a $25,000 prize. Click each cover to learn more about the books and authors.

Book cover for City Diplomacy: From City-States to Global CitiesCity Diplomacy: From City-States to Global Cities
By Raffaele Marchetti
Book cover for Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban UtopiasDream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias
By John Lorinc

 

Book cover for Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous CityEmergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City
By Jorge Almazán, Joe McReynolds, and Studiolab
Book cover for Survival of the City: The Future Of Urban Life In An Age Of IsolationSurvival of the City: The Future Of Urban Life In An Age Of Isolation
By Edward Glaeser, David Cutler

 

Book cover for The Black Butterfly: The Harmful Politics of Race and Space in AmericaThe Black Butterfly: The Harmful Politics of Race and Space in America
By Lawrence T. Brown
Book cover for The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of InfrastructureThe Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure
By Rashmi Sadana

 

2023 Longlist

  • Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It by M. Nolan Gray
  • City Diplomacy: From City-States to Global Cities by Raffaele Marchetti
  • Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias by John Lorinc
  • Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City by Jorge Almazán
  • Infrastructural Optimism by Linda C. Samuels
  • Red Hot City: Housing, Race, and Exclusion in Twenty-First-Century Atlanta by Dan Immergluck
  • Survival of the City: The Future Of Urban Life In An Age Of Isolation by Edward Glaeser, David Cutler
  • The Black Butterfly: The Harmful Politics of Race and Space in America by Lawrence T. Brown
  • The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure by Rashmi Sadana
  • Urban Diplomacy: A Cosmopolitan Outlook by Juan Luis Manfredi-Sánchez

City Diplomacy: From City-States to Global Cities

By Raffaele Marchetti

City Diplomacy: From City-States to Global Cities book cover

City Diplomacy: From City-States to Global Cities pushes back on the conventional view that only states can be global actors and highlights the significant diplomatic and cross-cultural activity taking place in cities today. Raffaele Marchetti is Deputy Rector for Internationalization and Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science and the School of Government of LUISS in Rome. Buy the book.

Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias

By John Lorinc

Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias book cover

Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias raises tough and important questions about smart city tech and its impact on urban communities, surveillance, automation, and public participation. John Lorinc is a journalist and editor who reports on urban affairs, politics, business, technology, and local history and is the recipient of the 2019/2020 Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy. Buy the book.

Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City

By Jorge Almazán, Joe McReynolds, and Studiolab

Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City book cover

Emergent Tokyo: Designing the Spontaneous City examines how Tokyo balances massive growth and local communal life and can be a model for other cities to emulate. Jorge Almazán is a Spanish architect based in Tokyo, whose office is committed to environmentally responsible and socially inclusive projects. Joe McReynolds is an urban studies scholar affiliated with Keio University, where he studies Tokyo’s approach to urban development. Naoki Saito is an architect and an assistant professor at Keio University. Buy the book.

Survival of the City: The Future of Urban Life in An Age of Isolation

By Edward Glaeser, David Cutler

Survival of the City: The Future of Urban Life in An Age of Isolation book cover

Survival of the City: The Future of Urban Life in An Age of Isolation argues that to preserve city life as we know it, massive gaps in health care, education, and governance must be filled. Edward Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University. David Cutler is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and served on the Council of Economic Advisers and the National Economic Council during the Clinton Administration. He served on the Council of Economic Advisers and the National Economic Council during the Clinton Administration. Buy the book.

The Black Butterfly: The Harmful Politics of Race and Space in America

By Lawrence T. Brown

The Black Butterfly: The Harmful Politics of Race and Space in America book cover

The Black Butterfly: The Harmful Politics of Race and Space in America uses the city of Baltimore, where the majority-black population fans out around prime city real estate like butterfly wings, to examine the policies, practices, and ongoing historical trauma that created hypersegregation in today’s cities. Lawrence T. Brown is an equity scientist, urban Afrofuturist, and the director of the Black Butterfly Academy, a racial equity education and consulting firm, and a research scientist in the new Center for Urban Health Equity at Morgan State University. Buy the book.

The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure

By Rashmi Sadana

The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure book cover

The Moving City: Scenes from the Delhi Metro and the Social Life of Infrastructure is the story of how the Delhi Metro reshaped the city’s social and urban landscape and is a commentary on infrastructure and the importance of the physical and emotional impact of public transportation. Rashmi Sadana is Associate Professor of Anthropology at George Mason University and author of English Heart, Hindi Heartland: The Political Life of Literature in India. Buy the book.

For specific queries, contact:

Matt Watson

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2024 Award

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