10 Books for Urban Thinkers This Summer
The 2025 Pattis Family Foundation Global Cities Book Award Long List
Books have the power to transform how cities are understood, governed, and experienced. The Pattis Family Foundation Global Cities Book Award, proudly hosted by Metropolis this year, celebrates nonfiction works that shed light on the urban challenges of today—and inspire solutions for the cities of tomorrow.
This summer, Metropolis is sharing the 2025 long list selected by the Pattis Award Judging Committee. These ten titles explore the core issues shaping the future of our cities such as climate resilience, urban innovation, housing, mobility, and care.
From Bogotá to Barcelona, Kaohsiung to Kuala Lumpur, these books reflect the conversations taking place across the global Metropolis membership.
The Pattis Family Foundation Global Cities Book Award Long List
From the Judging Committee
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Title |
Author |
Description |
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1 |
Waste and the City: The Crisis of Sanitation and the Right to Citylife |
Colin McFarlane |
It emphasizes the crucial role of sanitation in urban public health. McFarlane calls for equitable investment, framing sanitation as a democratic right to urban life. |
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2 |
Enrique Peñalosa Londoño |
Based on the author's experience as Bogotá’s mayor, the book offers practical guidance for building more just and sustainable cities. |
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3 |
Stephanie Wakefield |
It explores how climate change is reshaping urban life, turning the question beyond resilience to transformation. |
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4 |
Dan Hancox |
Hancox asks urgent questions about freedom, control, and collective power in the modern age. |
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5 |
Alva Gotby |
It examines how we live and value homes. It's a call to transform both housing systems and everyday life. |
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6 |
Wes Marshall |
The book critiques the flawed logic behind U.S. road design and offers a hopeful vision for more equitable transportation systems. |
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7 |
Solidarity Cities: Confronting Racial Capitalism, Mapping Transformation |
Maliha Safri, Marianna Pavlovskaya, Stephen Healy, and Craig Borowiak |
It maps the impact of cooperative networks in U.S. cities that promote mutual aid, democracy, and inclusion. |
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8 |
Cultivating Livability: Food, Class, and the Urban Future in Bengaluru |
Camille Frazier |
Frazier examines what “livability” means in Bengaluru, India, through the lens of urban food networks. |
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9 |
Master Plans and Minor Acts: Repairing the City in Post-Genocide Rwanda |
Shakirah, E., Hudani |
It explores how post-genocide Rwanda uses urban planning to rebuild cities and promote social healing. |
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10 |
Panagiota Kotsila, Isabelle Anguelovski, Melissa García-Lamarca, and Filka Sekulova |
The authors critique urban sustainability, revealing how true sustainability requires protecting housing, public space, and community rights. |
Stay tuned! The shortlist will be announced later this year. For now, these titles offer fresh insight for urban professionals, policymakers, and readers committed to more inclusive and sustainable cities.
