The author looks at New York, Singapore, London, Manchester, Belfast, Toronto, Sydney and Shanghai, taking as an initial and overarching theme the antagonism between Robert Moses, the developer who worked top-down and ran motorways through housing and Jane Jacobs, who stood in front of bulldozers and was all for community engagement first. In each chapter, he reviews his first impressions, his dealings with the authorities and his experience of the city intertwined, and then goes for a meal in a favourite spot to talk more generally about what he’s discovered.

Warm and perceptive, there’s a lot to like about the author and the book. None of the ideas are startlingly ground-breaking (we should provide housing people can afford, let the ugly flourish so people can establish themselves in chaotic, cheaper neighbourhoods, look at what other cultures do) but it’s told and drawn together nicely.

Full review on my blog here https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2021/05/22/book-review-joe-berridge-perfect-city/

Perfect City is a quick and delightful read for anyone who is at all interested in cities, planning, women in leadership, and/or immigration.

I was an urban studies major in college, and am still fascinated by it, so I requested Perfect City as soon as I saw it was available. The book takes us through various cities the author has lived and worked in, visiting past projects and favorite eateries. It’s a little bit travel diary, which was unexpected and a lot of fun. As you read through, you begin to realize that there is no one perfect city, but there are elements of perfect in each, unique as they are (beware cookie cutter amenities - dull). There are emerging threads throughout: Robert Moses vs Jane Jacobs (some of each is essential) and the idea of cities as places where people come to start from scratch and improve their lives in a way that’s impossible in a sparse rural area. Many of the old(er) cities Berridge describes (New York, London, Manchester) are becoming quite impossible for people who work there to live. The housing stock is increasingly limited to investor zillionaires from far away. The governance structure makes long-term planning virtually impossible, as politicians are beholden to local priorities.

The cities that will thrive in the future are the ones in the east, the ‘new’ cities (Shanghai, Singapore) that are building infrastructure for a future population, not playing catchup with efforts that don’t come close to meeting actual needs. Berridge highlights the achievements of woman planners in every city he describes, and the importance of meeting stakeholders where they are, not planning around the professed needs of the ones who have the luxury of attending a 2:00 pm meeting. Immigrants are the life of cities, and always have been. Toronto’s libraries are set up as primary assimilation points, putting new arrivals in touch with all they need in a 14-point checklist. He urges planners to appreciate the significance of the ‘ugly’ parts of a city - the seemingly run-down areas by airports that aren’t much to look at, but which house a cornucopia of diverse functions. The folks who can afford to live here make the place their own with their own homestyle restaurants, their own places of worship, and education. Revitalize these areas at your peril, as what may appeal to the eye will cut a hole in the present and future economy, not to mention the damage done to the social fabric.

Many thanks to Net Galley and Sutherland House publishers for a galley copy of Perfect City in exchange for an unbiased review.

I was quite excited to read this book, but unfortunately struggled to get into a comfortable reading flow and didn't particularly enjoy the writing style. Having urban geography in my academic background I was looking for some new insights and innovative ideas, but found little that was unknown. Maybe I was expecting too much and more of a structured overview, but for readers new to the field it might be just right as a first introduction.

“Moses first, Jacobs second,” says Joe Berridge at Kindle location 859 of this book.

Berridge refers to the New York City-based city planner best known today for being the subject of The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, and Moses' nemesis, the writer and urban-preservation activist Jane Jacobs. This is what a city needs, Berridge maintains: first, someone to envision and build the ugly urban infrastructure (bridges, airports, tunnels, roads) that allows people to get around the area, and second a person to say at some point “Whoa, stop, enough” so that the city can develop a vibrant walkable street life.

Berridge is a Toronto-based urban planner and this book is something of a marketing tool for his consultancy, but it's still quite readable. It also shows good humor and an ability to not take his own profession too seriously.

You might enjoy the book more if you live in or know well the cities that he talks about in chapter-length detail, which are: New York, Singapore, London, Manchester, Belfast, Toronto, Sydney, and Shanghai. These are all cities where is consultancy had business. On the other hand, the Washington, DC, area (where I live) is only mentioned in passing and disparagingly, when the author holds up as a negative example the sweetheart deal that my town recently gave Amazon to lure half of its much-ballyhooed “HQ2”.

I found Berridge's use of the word “spiky” and its variants throughout the book to be a little confusing and only vaguely defined. So, I went off to the 'net and found the apparent origin of the term in the sense it is used in this book. It might save you a little head-scratching if you look at this 2005 article from The Atlantic, in which fellow urban planning guru Richard Florida seems to coin the term. In brief, it is meant to be in opposition to Thomas L. Friedman's book-length 2005 assertion that The World is Flat, a declaration that nowadays seems as timely as “Fifty-four Forty or Fight”.

I received a free electronic advance review copy of this book via Netgalley and Sutherland House.

PERFECT CITY is written by Joe Berridge, a self-described "urban mechanic" who is a partner at Urban Strategies and a Fellow of the University of Toronto's Munk School of Public Policy. Berridge begins by saying there is no such thing as a perfect city, but he acknowledges their collective importance and says that "they now rival nation states as the places where the social, economic, environmental and political future of the planet will be resolved." Describing cities as "machines for moving things around," he then devotes a chapter to the influence of Jane Jacobs (The Death and Life of Great American Cities) whom he met while living in Toronto. Berridge provides a "world urban tour," chronicling his travels, his impressions, and urban projects in subsequent chapters centered on large international metropolitan areas (New York, Singapore, London, Manchester, Belfast, Toronto, Sydney and Shanghai). In the final chapter he once again notes the long-standing arguments between adherents of Jacobs and Robert Moses, then summarizes questions for the future based on his own "Urban Fixer's Global Search for Magic in the Modern Metropolis." Of potential interest to students considering a career in urban planning, Berridge's text is very readable and filled with stories, sentiment and some sweeping statements. Overall, it seems more akin to a travelogue than a book on public policy (he does raise concerns and issues), and although Berridge offers an index there is little help for researchers in terms of notes or bibliography.

In “Perfect City” Joe Berridge, an accomplished professional in the field of urban planning, promises to identify the qualities essential for urban “perfection” by going on a world tour of significant cities successful in various ways. While the promise sounds exciting, the book does not live up to it.

“Perfect City” is sensibly structured, pleasantly written and easy to read. Some of the moments described - such as the author’s duck noodle soup-fueled manic exploration of Shanghai - are humorous and relatable, and I found the personification of top-down and bottom-up forces in city development as Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs quite successful. The rest was underwhelming.

Berridge’s observations across the cities he visits are hardly in-depth, he constrains himself to surface-level commentary that amounts to little but enthusiastic exclamations: “Look, Cornell Tech! East London! Marina Bay!” He cites no sources (there is no bibliography or footnotes) and goes into detail about nothing. For example, he’ll mention talking to various professionals such as local managers and political figures, yet say little to nothing of the content of their conversations.
After a couple of chapters one realizes that the cities on his itinerary are not selected for their unique merits, but merely because Berridge’s firm worked or had a chance to work there. That seems to be the reason cities like New York, London and Toronto are covered in so much more detail than Sydney, or why Shanghai is on the list, but Tokyo, Mumbai or Moscow don’t make it.
Lastly, there is hardly anything in the book a casual observer or a person with even a passing interest in urban planning do not already have an awareness of. Immigration is good? Public transit and housing affordability are important? High-tech sector is the future? Not exactly fresh takes.

This reads like a light-hearted attempt by Berridge to draw some broad conclusions from decades of work in the urban planning sector. That’s commendable, interesting and done successfully, but it hardly amounts to any kind of distillation of “perfect city” qualities. The book simply lacks academic depth to put forth authoritative opinions on the matter. I suspect I would have enjoyed it more if I had been presented with a more accurate idea of what to expect. The title and blurb are misleading.

Town planner Joe Berridge shuffles us around major cities of the world (including Toronto, London, New York, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney, Manchester and Belfast) explaining what contributes to a 'city' and even more, a city that is 'successful', or indeed 'perfect'.

I enjoyed the travel writing aspects of this book a lot more than the rather dry look at town planning and the clanging name drops.
It did give me some food for thought, especially how cities adapt (or don't) to hardship - for example The Troubles in Belfast - although no topic other than urban planning was delved into very deeply.

All in all, I'm glad I read this book and if this author decides to get more into travel writing, I will gladly read that work!

what composes the perfect city? plenty of rental apartments and single-family homes that are easily purchasable by the average middle class family. clean air, lots of parkland and playgrounds, open spaces, public transportation (buses and trams-trains), good schools, growing businesses, to begin with. originally from Toronto, and having worked on some of the most successful renewal projects in that city he is considered by most to be an expert in his field.

the cities he examines are Toronto, New York, London, Singapore, Shanghai, Manchester have all re-oriented their main businesses in the last twenty years. he spends time discussing the major physical changes to these cities and what worked and what didn't. he then summarizes the best of each of these cities till he comes to an answer at the end. what is it? you'll have to read the book.

This is a compelling read for all sorts of people, not just urban planning types. Berridge uses some of the world's largest cities as a lens through which to discuss the components that make for a great place.

If you enjoy grappling with questions about communities and how they function, what makes for a livable locale, you will find much to appreciate here.

Likewise, if you travel and like to grapple with the ways in which communities are alike and different, lots of food for thought.

My only quibble is that Berridge couldn't cover everything in one volume. I would have enjoyed more attention to the role of the arts in a great city, as well as coverage of cities in the developing world/global south.

With thanks to Sutherland House and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

In Perfect City, author and urban planner, Joe Berridge takes readers on a tour of 10 largely successful cities and discusses what is working for each and what is not. From Sydney to Shanghai, New York to London, Berridge breaks down the history of each metropolitan area’s growth as well as the secrets that make it work. Singapore for example, is up and coming city and has an incredibly low crime rate in large part due to incredibly tough criminal laws (a drug dealer can be hung) while at the same time being organized in such a way that the majority of the population owns their apartment homes. Manchester is rebuilding from a bombing attack and taking the opportunity to redesign and Toronto has an immigrant friendly city with a points system allowing them to give priority to highly educated individuals which is driving new businesses and innovations.

Berridge also analyzes the areas these cities need to improve and takes the reader on a visual walking, or often riding (mass transit being a key component to successful growth in large metropolitan areas) tour of the cities, pointing out the nuances of each. Ending each chapter of a city with a trip to a restaurant that both exemplifies the city’s personality, and just sounds amazingly delicious, Berridge ponders over the future of that city and the path it has taken to the present.

As someone with no background in urban planning but a love of history and armchair traveling, this was a satisfying read. Berridge broke down components of cities and their successes in ways I had never thought of and kept me thinking about what drives the success of many cities long after the book was done. A fun and informative read.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ about 30%. This was an informative read, from what I saw of it, but not really for me at the moment - it certainly had a lot of merit and would probably have been interesting at a different age or even a time of year when I'm not so swamped with exams that anything academic makes my head spin, but it was a little bit more erudite for my unrefined tastes. (Granted, this wasn't written for seventeen-year-olds, so that was probably to be expected.) No hard feelings - I didn't hate it at all, and the writing style was quite nice and polished, it just wasn't for me right now. I might revisit it.

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<p>Review copy provided by the publisher.</p>
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<p>Not every science fiction writer can be Malka Older or Arkady Martine--in fact, statistically, hardly any of us can. The rest of us who are writing science fiction could use an assist in thinking about cities, and that's where Joe Berridge comes in. (I think he did not think of being a resource to science fiction writers when he wrote this, but I am what I am, and this is what I do.)</p>
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<p><em>Perfect City</em> surveys a handful of cities in depth, with glancing mention of more, based on Berridge's experience in urban planning and design. He talks about what's working in Toronto, what makes Singapore vital, what problems Belfast has overcome and how. This is a general-audiences book, not a technical manual for fellow urban planners. Berridge wants to think about where you can get good dumplings as well as what kind of developments encourage the positive cycle of cultural opportunities (including good food), public appreciation, and widespread support.</p>
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<p>Berridge's cities are not my cities. He's mostly concerned with the largest of the large, and there were times when I felt he slipped into valuing population size and economic output at the expense of other urban values. (Montreal does not wish it was Melbourne. It just...doesn't.) He doesn't spend a lot of time on some of the technical details I think are most interesting (environmental impact of infrastructure: how do we do this well--just for example). But he's attempting to balance lessons from Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs and figure out how to apply them in a future setting, and that alone is valuable. He sees thriving immigrant communities as a positive in ways that we are going to need to cultivate in an era of climate refugees.</p>
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<p>Also it's charming to have someone talking earnestly about home-ownership rates and methods, housing density, etc., suddenly lapse into rhapsodies about where you can get good food. That's the kind of thinking about cities that makes sense to me, human and entirely mingled.</p>
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I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I really enjoyed it. While Berridge is an experienced professional in urban design & city planning, this book is more than accessible to the lay audience. His career is long and varied, but the book was researched and written up to the minute to include a potential Brexit, Trump presidency, the development of Hudson Yards and other projects. I was most familiar with his London, NYC writing but I also enjoyed the history lesson in Manchester and the stark contrast of Singapore's development. Interesting parallels between the cities. A must-read for those interested in how cities grew and are growing.

Joe Berridge uses most of “Perfect City” as a memoir of his master-planner days. He’s added many personal details to his history of eight of the world’s largest cities, especially their urban failures.

He concludes that there’s no perfect city among his candidates, and then reviews what we’d need to do to create a new city in our countries and cultures.

His analysis and advice will appeal to people who’ve been through the city planning process (both as an occupation and as residents). However the book is a very long read and at times gets bogged down in the minutiae without reaching clear, effective conclusions.

I have recommended this book for review by Washington Independent Review of Books. It's a wonderful look at what makes some of the world's most notable cities work (or not work), offering timely tips on crucial ingredients for success (immigrants and good libraries, among other things). If you're an armchair travel fan or you spend too much time sitting on airplanes visiting the world's great cities but not really getting to know them, this is a very satisfying book!

This an interesting discussion of what makes a city great, framed largely between the poles of top-down implementation of big projects and bottom-up organic growth. The author devotes chapters to a handful of cities in which he has worked as an urban consultant and uses these to illustrate his points about the elements of a city's greatness. It's a quick read, written for laypeople, with no scholarly jargon. The author's background seems to be in large-scale, transformative projects; at least that is his major interest in this book.

I recommend the book to anyone interested in cities and urban development.

Here’s my view of big cities. I agree with the old adage- “Big cities are a great place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.”

Even so, I am fascinated by the world’s big cities- their history, landmarks, their vibrant aura. Author Joe Berridge does love big cities. And as an urban planner, he gets to know them and their inner-workings. He has written a fascinating book of the cities that are on his “Perfect City” list.

Cities are complex. Each is different, yet there are some similarities. There are three major components that all successful cities must have: The opportunity to create and distribute wealth. The means to move people around, with rail terminals, airports, subways, and ground transportation. The third ingredient is very important- big cities must foster a sense of home, and provide security and welcome, and a safe place to raise a family and create a life.

Using these factors, the author takes us to New York, London, Toronto, Singapore, Manchester, Belfast, and Shanghai. Do some of the cities on his list surprise you- well, that’s a good reason for you to explore this interesting book. The author writes clearly and gives a good tour of each city and its recent urban planning projects. At the end of each city description, the author visits a restaurant that to him reflects the essence of the city.

I would like to join him at the oyster bar. I feel that he downplays what to me is an essential element to make a city perfect- freedom and liberty. I recommend this book because I am sure you will learn something!

Thanks to the publisher Sutherland House and NetGalley for a review copy. This is my honest review.

I really enjoyed this exploration of city planning with visits to Toronto, London, Sydney, Shanghai and Singapore among others. The conundrum of top-down (Moses) and bottom-up (Jacobs) development is interesting. Closing each chapter in a restaurant was a good option. There are plenty of books suggested by the author that I'd like to get to.