Future Cities

In March 1914, two people met in Puducherry: Sri Aurobindo, the Indian visionary and a leader of India’s independence movement who had fled arrest by the British and sought refuge there, and Mirra Alfassa, who was the wife of a French politician, and who later came to be known as the Mother...

A pioneering exploration of four cities where East meets West and past becomes future: St. Petersburg, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Dubai. Every month, five million people move from the past to the future. Pouring into developing-world “instant cities” like Dubai and Shenzhen, these urban newcomers confront a modern world cobbled together from fragments of a West they have never seen. Do these fantastical boomtowns, where blueprints spring to life overnight on virgin land, represent the dawning of a brave new world? Or is their vaunted newness a mirage?

'Ply is majestic . . . sentences so fine they break the skin; a plot that swerves through loss, love, trust, betrayal, art, science, society and control' - David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas These are the last moments of the world as it's always been known. Reality now begins anew. The...

Brought to you by Penguin. WINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY TRIVEDI SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2024 ONE OF THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW SCIENTIST BEST SCIENCE BOOKS OF THE YEAR GUARDIAN BEST SCIENCE AND NATURE BOOK 2024 A HUGO AWARD WINNER FOR BEST RELATED WORK 2024 THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER From the...

America's most storied urban underdog, Brooklyn has become an internationally recognized brand in recent decades - celebrated and scorned as one of the hippest destinations in the world. In Brooklyn: The Once and Future City, Thomas J. Campanella unearths long-lost threads of the urban past, telling the rich history of the rise, fall, and reinvention of one of the world’s most resurgent cities.

In this exhilarating look at cities, past and future, Ben Wilson proposes that, in our world of rising seas and threatening weather, the natural world may prove the city's savior. Since the beginning of civilization, humans have built cities to wall nature out, then glorified it in beloved but...

An eye-opening investigation into how our ever-expanding urban highways accelerated inequality and fractured communities—and a call for a more just, sustainable path forward “Megan Kimble manages to turn a book about transportation and infrastructure into a fascinating human drama...

"A rare treat: a time travel tale that brings something new to the subgenre. . ..A wry social commentary and an uneasy tale of escalating paranoia." Guardian THE FUTURE IS ALREADY WRITTEN. THE FUTURE HAS ALREADY HAPPENED. "Welcome to the 21st Century. Please don't feed the natives. . ..Echoes of...

Men had built cities before, but never such a city as Diaspar; for millennia its protective dome shut out the creeping decay and danger of the world outside. Once, it ruled the stars. But then, as legend had it, the Invaders came, driving humanity into this last refuge. It takes one man, a...

'Ambitious and engaging' THE SPECTATOR 'Lyrically readable yet highly informative ... a story of resilience, strength and humanity's innate resourcefulness' DAILY MAIL 'A thoughtful, open-hearted, deeply reported book about what we need to live' CAL FLYN A moveable city in the Arctic Circle...

The City Inside, a near-future epic by the internationally celebrated Samit Basu, pulls no punches as it comes for your anxieties about society, government, the environment, and our world at large—yet never loses sight of the hopeful potential of the future. “They'd known the end times were...

Pre-order Simon Reynold's forthcoming Still in a Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers, and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984-1994, publishing June 2026. 'A captivating celebration of the music that pushes us forward' RECORD COLLECTOR Futuromania is a celebration of music that feels like a taste of tomorrow...

Philip Marlowe meets Redwall in this superior adult noir tale, where all the characters are animals, fighting for survival in the city underneath the humans. "[John] Pirhalla's narration easily differentiates a variety of animal gang leaders, henchmen, and more...He adjusts his pacing precisely...

WINNER OF THE ASIAN AMERICAN AWARD FOR LITERATURE IN ADULT FICTION FINALIST FOR THE PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT NOVEL An utterly transporting debut novel about the unexpected relationship between an artist and the 130-year-old woman she cares for—two of the last people living in a...

WINNER OF THE AUGUST DERLETH AND ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARDS A masterpiece brimming with scientific splendor, magical intrigue, and fierce characters, from the author who “has reshaped modern fantasy” (The Washington Post) “[China Miéville’s] fantasy novels, including a trilogy set in...

Turn urban pollution and climate anxiety into practical sustainability solutions during your daily city commute. Discover how ordinary neighborhoods are tackling extreme heat, flood risks, and waste management through grassroots environmentalism and smart urban planning. This hopeful...

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Wall Street Journal NPR New York Public Library LitHub Mental Floss “Influenced by the likes of Jane Austen and Rick and Morty, Smith tackles timely issues while leaving room for some delicious reality TV references...

Trace the turbulent Asian history and geopolitical struggles of a tiny coastal port transformed into a global powerhouse. Perfect for an educational commute, this gripping narrative explores the fierce clash between British imperial rule and Chinese sovereignty. Walk the crowded dockyards and...

This program is read by Hugo Award–winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky. Murderbot meets Redshirts in a delightfully humorous tale of robotic murder from the Hugo-nominated author of Elder Race and Children of Time. To fix the world they must first break it, further. Humanity is a dying breed...

In the new novel in the #1 New York Times-bestselling series, Lt. Eve Dallas is about to walk into the shadows of her husband’s dangerous past… While Eve examines a fresh body in Washington Square Park, her husband, Roarke, spots a man among the onlookers he’s known since his younger days...