Why people recommend it
Triumph of the City by Edward L. Glaeser is a best-selling economic exploration of urban environments, demonstrating how human density and cities are our greatest inventions for driving innovation, wealth, health, and happiness. The book received deep analytical attention during an episode of People I (Mostly) Admire in January 2023, where host Steve Levitt interviewed Glaeser, reflecting on the insights of the 2008 publication while contrasting them with the author's later co-authored work, Survival of the City. During the conversation, Glaeser reflected on the intellectual hurdles he faced when he first began writing Triumph of the City fifteen years prior, noting the difficult challenge of translating rigorous economic data into compelling, narrative-driven storytelling for a general audience. The book's profound impact was also explored on Freakonomics Radio, where Stephen Dubner and guests, including Tony Hsieh and Zach Ware, discussed how Glaeser's urban manifesto served as the direct intellectual inspiration and foundational seed for the ambitious Downtown Project in Las Vegas. Across these discussions, podcasters and guests highlighted how Glaeser's work brilliantly illuminates the complex dynamics of urban clustering, challenging pessimistic views of metropolitan areas and proving that dense city spaces remain the absolute bedrock of human progress and societal flourishing.
Who recommended it
- Steve Levitt Discussed
- Stephen Dubner Discussed
- Edward Glaeser Discussed
- Zach Ware Discussed
Steve Levitt — 3 mentions
“He's the author of the best-selling book, Triumph of the City, and now he's back with a new book co-authored with David Cutler called Survival of the City.”
“so back in 2008 Ed you wrote a book called Triumph of the city and now 13 years later you've got a new book called survival of the city”
“So back in 2008, Ed, you wrote a book called Triumph of the City, and now, 13 years later, you've got a new book called Survival of the City.”
Stephen Dubner — 3 mentions
“one of his main Inspirations was a Harvard Economist named ed Glaser who four years ago published a Manifesto called Triumph of the city how our greatest invention makes us richer smarter Greener healthier and happier”
“he wrote a wonderful book years ago called Triumph of the city and the subtitle is something like how our greatest invention makes us happier richer smarter meaner and something else”
“in 2011 Glazer published a book called Triumph of the city how our greatest invention makes us richer smarter Greener healthier and happier”
Edward Glaeser — 2 mentions
“I wandered around before writing Triumph Detroit for a while and the sort of queer empty moonscape”
“It sure feels like a conflict; it was very hard when I started working on Triumph 15 years ago. You remember that you've got to tell stories with narrative because we just purge it in our economic papers.”
Zach Ware — 1 mention
“the work that we we first found that really I think sowed the seeds for what would become the downtown project was Ed Glazer's book”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 1
“he has something I think he refers to as the edifice complex in his book so versus let's build a giant right”