Review Detail

The Cities of the Future

Middle Grade Non-Fiction 455

When in Rome... or Marseille... or Paris

May 12, 2025 (Updated: June 04, 2026)

Overall rating

4.7

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

Learning Value

5.0

Starting with a brief overview of the growth of urban and suburban communities in the 1970s, this intriguing book discusses the ways in which people are trying to make cities more pleasant, sustainable places to live. After an introduction about the difficulties a variety of problems pose to urban populations, each chapter highlights different cities across the globe who are trying to mitigate the problems. This includes Berlin, whose efforts at city planning have made it one of the greenest cities in the world, and the vertical forests of Milan. Other topics include growing food in cities, using renewable energy, improving transportation, and using smart technology. There are also chapters on different historical attempts to improve city design, like the Social Palace is Guise, how different countries are working on creating the types of cities they want, and showcases of different cities that were successful in the past, like Bilbao, Spain, and Bordeaux, France.

Good Points

Even as someone who enjoys living in a walkable suburb, I can see the appeal of city living. This book, which is translated from the French, has a European feel to it. It's hard to describe, but ever since I was given a translation of a Danish book as a child, I've been attracted to the modern print and small, precise pictures floating in a lot of white space that seems to define many European books, especially nonfiction titles. This is more of a middle grade book, due to its length, but could be used with younger children who have a lot of patience. I think New York City and Detroit are the only US cities that are included in this title.

The birdseye views of the components of the cities described have so much detail, and have a largely brown, green and gray color palette, which make the red and blue details really pop. Even the textures on the buildings, and the tiny trees and plants, are beautifully done. One especially fun element are the stripes along the sides of the pages which continue onto the outside, as can be seen on the cover.

While this is lacking an index or bibliography, the table of contents is very complete, and the research into both modern and historical cities seems very well done.

While there are lots of picture books about farm and country life, perhaps I have just never noticed the growing number of books about the urban landscape. Young readers who are interested in ecology and in architecture will enjoy The Cities of the Future, which is a great companion to Bartunek and Velcovsky's From Pyramids to Palaces, Sedlackova's Bustling Cities of the World, Theule's Concrete: From the Ground Up, Tardif's Metropolis, and Roeder's The Power of Architecture: 25 Modern Buildings Around the World.