Urban Thinkers Book Club

Have you spent too many nights up awake thinking about how Toronto can better activate it’s public spaces? Are your family and friends tired of you asking them to debate the merits of the 15” city or the new LRT project? If you are looking for a place that has kindred spirits who are just as invested in all things urban planning/city building as you are, then you have come to the right place! Urban Thinkers is a book club where we come together to read up on the latest developments in transportation, urban design, social policy and much more with the goal of expanding our knowledge of urban development in the company of good friends and a hot cup of coffee. Students and professionals actively working in the sector are encouraged to come, but anyone with an interest in learning more about this field is welcome!

We meet every other month at Boxcar Social (1208 Yonge St, Toronto) from 11am to 1pm to discuss our latest read.

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The next book club on September 27th we will be reading The Land Trap by Mike Bird

We will be reading

Chapter 5: To The Tiller

Chapter 10: Singapore Fever

But if you only have time to read one of the chapters, read https://progressandpoverty.substack.com/p/book-review-the-land-trap-by-mike for a high level summary and discussion.

A common failure mode of Urbanist Discourse is someone yelling "Land Value Tax solves this!" at a problem and then being unable to explain themselves. Or they link you to a book that was clearly a series of blog posts stapled together. Thank George that Mike Bird wrote a book explaining why:

Land is a unique asset

Its financialization + mismanagement causes problems for housing affordability

This book is econ-heavy, but I promise its not dry and has immediate pragmatic applications.

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We are always looking for new suggestions for books/reports/studies to read, so feel free to send me a message or come with a suggestions at our upcoming session.