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為什麼世界上最富有與最貧困的人經常毗鄰而居？
為什麼曾經不可一世的大都會卻淪為年久失修的衰廢市鎮？
為什麼遠離城市的鄉居生活對環境的破壞更大？
為什麼有這麼多聰明人推動這麼多愚蠢的城市政策？
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世界不是平的，世界是被人鋪築出來的。人類發明了城市，而生活在城市中的人們也開創了一波又一波的文明高峰。然而，在二十一世紀的今天，城市卻常被人們認為是骯髒、貧窮、不衛生、犯罪盛行、物價高昂、對環境有害的居住場所，但事實是否真的是如此？
在這本粉碎迷思的作品中，哈佛經濟學教授格雷瑟將證明城市實際上才是世界上最衛生、最環保與最富裕的生活場所。格雷瑟在本書中探索古今中外歷史，足跡踏遍全球，挖掘出城市不為人知的運作狀況，與城市如何能為人類帶來最大的福祉。作者並分析已開發國家的城鄉排碳現況，進一步投射到中國和印度發展後對全球的衝擊，而引證出高密度的大城市將是人類唯一的救贖。
格雷瑟大膽的報導、敏銳的分析與強有力的論證，為城市的重要性與光輝提供了迫在眉睫且具說服力的見解。他高聲疾呼，如果我們不好好發展我們的城市，無論我們身在何處，終將自食惡果。
A pioneering urban economist offers fascinating, even inspiring proof that the city is humanity's greatest invention and our best hope for the future.
America is an urban nation. More than two thirds of us live on the 3 percent of land that contains our cities. Yet cities get a bad rap: they're dirty, poor, unhealthy, crime ridden, expensive, environmentally unfriendly... Or are they?
As Edward Glaeser proves in this myth-shattering book, cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in cultural and economic terms) places to live. New Yorkers, for instance, live longer than other Americans; heart disease and cancer rates are lower in Gotham than in the nation as a whole. More than half of America's income is earned in twenty-two metropolitan areas. And city dwellers use, on average, 40 percent less energy than suburbanites.
Glaeser travels through history and around the globe to reveal the hidden workings of cities and how they bring out the best in humankind. Even the worst cities-Kinshasa, Kolkata, Lagos- confer surprising benefits on the people who flock to them, including better health and more jobs than the rural areas that surround them. Glaeser visits Bangalore and Silicon Valley, whose strangely similar histories prove how essential education is to urban success and how new technology actually encourages people to gather together physically. He discovers why Detroit is dying while other old industrial cities-Chicago, Boston, New York-thrive. He investigates why a new house costs 350 percent more in Los Angeles than in Houston, even though building costs are only 25 percent higher in L.A. He pinpoints the single factor that most influences urban growth-January temperatures-and explains how certain chilly cities manage to defy that link. He explains how West Coast environmentalists have harmed the environment, and how struggling cities from Youngstown to New Orleans can "shrink to greatness." And he exposes the dangerous anti-urban political bias that is harming both cities and the entire country.
Using intrepid reportage, keen analysis, and eloquent argument, Glaeser makes an impassioned case for the city's import and splendor. He reminds us forcefully why we should nurture our cities or suffer consequences that will hurt us all, no matter where we live.
★本書中譯版《城市的勝利》由時報出版。
作者簡介
愛德華．格雷瑟（Edward Glaeser）
哈佛大學經濟學教授。他同時主持了塔布曼國家與地方政府研究中心（Taubman Center for State and Local Government）與大波士頓地區拉帕波特學院（Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston）。他也是曼哈頓研究中心（Manhattan Institute）的高級研究員與《城市期刊》（City Journal）特約編輯。格雷瑟研究的經濟學領域相當廣泛，包括城市、住房、種族隔離、肥胖、犯罪、創新制度與其他主題，他也為《紐約時報》的部落格Economix撰寫許多這類主題的文章。
Edward L. Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University. He studies the economics of cities, housing, segregation, obesity, crime, innovation and other subjects, and writes about many of these issues for Economix. He serves as the director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. He is also a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1992.
