In reply to my post yesterday about The Atlas of Cities, Jonathan Davies suggested it was time for a list of books on urban economics. Se here’s a starter list. Other suggestions welcome.

1. The best of the most recent, Ed Glaeser’s [amazon_link id=”0330458078″ target=”_blank” ]The Triumph of the City[/amazon_link]. There’s also his [amazon_link id=”019929044X” target=”_blank” ]Cities, Agglomeration and Spatial Equilibrium[/amazon_link] on the basic economics of it.

[amazon_image id=”0330458078″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Triumph of the City[/amazon_image]

2. The classics by Jane Jacobs: [amazon_link id=”067974195X” target=”_blank” ]The Death and Life of Great American Cities[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”0394480473″ target=”_blank” ]Cities and the Wealth of Nations[/amazon_link], [amazon_link id=”039470584X” target=”_blank” ]The Economy of Cities[/amazon_link].

3. Some history: Tristram Hunt’s [amazon_link id=”075381983X” target=”_blank” ]Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City[/amazon_link] and his latest (which I’ve not yet read) [amazon_link id=”184614325X” target=”_blank” ]Ten Cities that Made an Empire[/amazon_link].

[amazon_image id=”075381983X” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City[/amazon_image]

4. [amazon_link id=”0385424345″ target=”_blank” ]Edge City[/amazon_link], Joel Garreau, about the economics of suburbs.

5. [amazon_link id=”0465024777″ target=”_blank” ]The Rise of the Creative Class[/amazon_link], Rich Florida (beloved by local governments everywhere)

6. [amazon_link id=”1844671607″ target=”_blank” ]Planet of Slums[/amazon_link] by Mike Davis

7. Owen Hatherley’s two marvellous extended rants about Britain’s urban landscapes, [amazon_link id=”1844677001″ target=”_blank” ]A Guide to The New Ruins of Great Britain[/amazon_link] and [amazon_link id=”1781680752″ target=”_blank” ]A New Kind of Bleak: Journeys Through Urban Britain[/amazon_link].

8. [amazon_link id=”0099539772″ target=”_blank” ]Edgelands[/amazon_link] by Michael Roberts and Paul Farley the wilderness spaces that spread into towns and cities.

[amazon_image id=”0099539772″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Edgelands[/amazon_image]

9. Another Classic, Lewis Mumford, [amazon_link id=”0156180359″ target=”_blank” ]The City in History[/amazon_link].

10. [amazon_link id=”1847087027″ target=”_blank” ]Estates[/amazon_link] by Lynsey Hanley.

[amazon_image id=”1862079854″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Estates: An Intimate History[/amazon_image]

11. [amazon_link id=”1907994149″ target=”_blank” ]Reinventing London[/amazon_link] by Bridget Rosewell.

12. The key textbook, [amazon_link id=”0262561476″ target=”_blank” ]The Spatial Economy[/amazon_link], Fujita, Krugman and Venables.

[amazon_image id=”0262561476″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]The Spatial Economy: Cities, Regions and International Trade[/amazon_image]

That’s a start – no doubt there are loads more.

Update: other titles suggested by Andrew Curry and Ami Shah, & my thanks to them. I don’t know all of these books, as they’re mainly not by economists.

Saskia Sassen,[amazon_link id=”0691070636″ target=”_blank” ] The Global City[/amazon_link]
John Reader, [amazon_link id=”009928426X” target=”_blank” ]Cities[/amazon_link]
Stephen Graham, [amazon_link id=”1844677621″ target=”_blank” ]Cities Under Siege[/amazon_link]
David Harvey, [amazon_link id=”1781680744″ target=”_blank” ]Rebel Cities[/amazon_link] and [amazon_link id=”0820334030″ target=”_blank” ]Social Justice and the City[/amazon_link]
Herbert Girardet, [amazon_link id=”0470852844″ target=”_blank” ]Cities People Planet[/amazon_link]
[amazon_link id=”1781688680″ target=”_blank” ]Radical Cities[/amazon_link] by Justin McGuirk, and

Peter Hall/Manuel Castells, [amazon_link id=”0415100143″ target=”_blank” ]Technopoles of the World[/amazon_link]

Later update: further titles via Twitter today are:

Anna Minton [amazon_link id=”0241960908″ target=”_blank” ]Ground Control[/amazon_link]

[amazon_image id=”0241960908″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Ground Control: Fear and happiness in the twenty-first-century city[/amazon_image]

[amazon_link id=”1577180011″ target=”_blank” ]Edward Soja[/amazon_link]

[amazon_link id=”B00085PP9I” target=”_blank” ]Louis Wirth[/amazon_link]

[amazon_link id=”0029112400″ target=”_blank” ]Herbert Gans[/amazon_link]

Please keep the suggestions coming!