In December 2020, we will read “Urban Acupuncture” by Jaime Lerner. This short read is uplifting and inspiring, which is why I really liked it for the holidays. It’s also a great gift!
Are there any examples of urban acupuncture in your city? Share them in the comments below or send a picture to @urbanismbookclub on Instagram to be featured!
Description:
During his three terms as mayor of Curitiba, Brazil in the 1970s and 80s, architect and urbanist Jaime Lerner transformed his city into a global model of the sustainable and livable community. From the pioneering Bus Rapid Transit system to parks designed to catch runoff and reduce flooding and the creation of pedestrian-only zones, Lerner has been the driving force behind a host of innovative urban projects. In more than forty years of work in cities around the globe, Lerner has found that changes to a community don t need to be large-scale and expensive to have a transformative impact in fact, one block, park, or a single person can have an outsized effect on life in the surrounding city.
In “Urban Acupuncture,” Lerner celebrates these pinpricks of urbanism projects, people, and initiatives from around the world that ripple through their communities to uplift city life. With meditative and descriptive prose, Lerner brings readers around the world to streets and neighborhoods where urban acupuncture has been practiced best, from the bustling La Boqueria market in Barcelona to the revitalization of the Cheonggyecheon River in Seoul, South Korea. Through this journey, Lerner invites us to re-examine the true building blocks of vibrant communities the tree-lined avenues, night vendors, and songs and traditions that connect us to our cities and to one another.
“Urban Acupuncture” is the first of Jaime Lerner s visionary work to be published in English. It is a love letter to the elements that make a street hum with life or a neighborhood feel like home, penned by one of the world s most successful advocates for sustainable and livable urbanism.
