I've never been so excited while in the middle of reading a book. 40% of the way through my library ebook, I bought a physical copy for myself. In the past year or two, my eyes have really been opened to all of the problems with America's urban planning and infrastructure, from zoning to our deference to car culture (eight parking spots for every car in the U.S!!). Charles Montgomery outlines the underlying reasons, based on a variety of studies, that explain why I swoon over transit-friendly, walkable cities with community spaces, mom-and-pop shops, and easy access to nature every few blocks. His many examples of the different world that is possible and the people that strove to make it so give me both hope and extreme jealousy/ a desire to immediately pack up and move to Copenhagen. Very excited to take my many Kindle notes and transform them into real highlights in my new physical copy.

"They realize that the happy city, the low-carbon city, and the city that will save us are the same place, and that they have the wherewithal to create it."