The Walkable City: From Haussmann's Boulevards to Jane Jacobs' Streets and Beyond

by Mary Soderstrom

Through Paris, New York City, Toronto, North Vancouver, and Singapore, this examination depicts how the architectural evolutions of major cities have changed the lives of their ordinary citizens—in both positive and negative ways. According to this account, making a metropolis navigable by foot again is crucial, and it suggests how people can reorganize their personal lives in order to make this possible again. From Baron George Eugene Haussmann and his ruthless transformation of Paris to the redevelopment of North America to adapt to automobiles, this chronicle investigates the dramatic changes that have occurred in the past 200 years, providing a valuable critique of the ideas regarding how cities should be designed.

Genres: Nonfiction, Urban Studies, Urban Planning, Cities, Walking, Architecture, Urbanism

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Mary Soderstrom is a Montreal-based writer of fiction and non-fiction whose next book--her 19th--Before We Forget: How Remembering Will Get Us Through the Next 75 Years will be published by Dundurn Press in March 2026. It follows in the footsteps of Against the Seas: Saving Civilizations from Rising Waters (Dundurn, 2023) and Concrete: From Ancient Origins to a Problematic Future {October 2020. University of Regina Press.}

In 2019 the UofRegina Press published her Frenemy Nations: Love and Hate between Neighbo(u)ring States which is an examination of why ten pairs of political entities--ranging from the formerly two Vietnams, through Haiti and the Dominican Republic and Vermont and New Hampshire to the US and Canada--are so similar in some respects, yet so different.

As Katia Grubisic writes about it in the Montreal Review of Books: "Soderstrom is interesting because she is interested... Her frequent asides – musings on language, geology, genetics, twins, what have you – are sharp and illuminating, sparking reflection and lightening the informational load."

Her Road through Time: The Story of Humanity on the Move (University of Regina Press) was published in 2017 to laudatory reviews in Quill & Quire, Publishers' Weekly and The Library Journal which called it "a must-read for all interested in society, past and present."

Her most recent work of fiction is River Music, a novel published by Cormorant Book in May 2015. In fall 2013 Oberon Press brought out her collection of short stories, Desire Lines: Stories of Love and Geography. Her last non-fiction book was Making Waves: The Continuing Portuguese Adventure (Véhicule Press, 2010) . Cormorant published her novel The Violets of Usambara in 2008. About a Canadian politician who is kidnapped in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, it is particularly relevant now in an era of terrorism around the world.

Her blog about books draws on her decades of reading, writing, reviewing and discussing: Not So Solitary a Pleasure (http://notsosolitaryapleasure.blogspo...) And for nearly a decade she has maintained an eclectic chronicle about politics, nature, cities and life, Recreating Eden (http://marysoderstrom.blogspot.com)

Reviews

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing. For a better book that celebrates and helps create walkable cities, try Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time, five stars.

A quibble. Robie House appears in a photograph as an example of a house built for the land. The caption puts it in "the Chicago suburb" of Hyde Park. Chicago annexed the neighborhood in 1889, a couple of years before it hosted the world's fair, aka, The Columbian Exposition. Dad received his University of Chicago MBA in Rockefeller Chapel, near Robie House.

[Susanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me!
Although there might be interesting bits of information in this book it kind of lacked direction. The imaginary conversations between Jane Jacobs and Baron Haussmann threw me off and made the otherwise scientific book hard to read for me.

[Lorraine York · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since I've recently moved house, my reading has become even more rambling than usual. My current system of choice involves reaching down into a cardboard box to find something I haven't yet read...One book I picked out a week or so ago was Mary Soderstrom's The Walkable City. I actually bought it for my partner, and I think, from the evidence of a bookmark, that he may have started but not finished it. Too bad; it's quite a good read! Having just moved to Toronto, I was also in the mood for a good walkable-city sort of book. My reading also coincided with the Jane Jacobs city walks that are held in many countries. Anyway, this book is, appropriately, rather a ramble itself. Soderstrom takes walks through and discusses various walkable--and non-walkable--parts of cities like Toronto, New York, Paris...She's definitely a Jane Jacobs admirer. Reading this has made me more mindful of my surroundings and more grateful to be able to do a great deal of my daily routine on foot. Recommended.

[R.J. Gilmour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soderstrom's book is a rumination about walkable cities across the globe. It is a subjective, personal look at the history of a few places and how she believes they relate to the idea of walkability. While a not a history of walkable cities the book weaves tidbits about the places she visits and walks placing them in a larger historical and social context. Interesting for anyone curious about the rejection of car cultures across the globe.

“The Don is one of two main rivers flowing south from the Oak Ridge Moraine toward Lake Ontario. Since the end of the last Ice Age, they and their tributaries have carried silt and sand from the moraine to form the spit of land which shelters Toronto’s harbour.” (Soderstrom: 100)

[Nancy McClure · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the history of Paris' urban evolution, especially since I'd just recently strolled along many of those Grande Boulevards, as well as been lost in the labyrinth of cobblestone alleys. After the Parisian history tour, Soderstrom focuses on several cities in the US - how NYC nearly passed on Central Park, and what JJ found when they expatriated to Canada. While this isn't a manual of sustainable city philosophy, it's historic documenting does outline processes of evolution that allow one to make sense of what is often an eclectic patchwork of conditions in the modern environment.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great. At first I thought it was going to be another stereotypical look at cities vs. suburbs and how walking is this panacea but she took a far more interesting look at walking in cities, drawing on examples and topics I would not have expected. The whole book is laced with Jane Jacobs, but Jane Jacobs post-Death and Life, which is also quite different from other books who reference her. Lastly, her use of literature to describe cities and how they work really gives this book an extra je-ne-sais-quoi. all in all a fantastic read.

[Jeramey · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are better books on walkable cities. It's a decent read, but often gets too bogged down with Paris examples.

Despite reading it as an e-book, I felt like it failed to take advantage of the inherent visual opportunities of the medium. I never quite felt like I was in many of the places, either through the words or photos.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn't quite what I was looking for. I found her narratives irritating. The historical info was well done, however.

[Ashley Lambert-Maberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I may be harder on non-fiction than fiction. If a topic's interesting, the author's done their research, and I'm learning something, that's a 3. In order to rise to 4-ness, it has to have something extra--be especially funny, or moving, or profound. (To hit a rare 5, it has to be a favourite, worthy of re-reading time and again--not necessarily a classic like "On the Origin of Species," but a 5 for me is something like Murder Ink or Walt Disney Imagineering, so there's no rhyme nor reason for what will particularly appeal).

This is a solid 3--for a novel, that would probably mean "you can do better if you want to," but for a book about walkable cities, it means "this one's fine." I found the author's thesis confusing (not sure she had one, per se--there seemed to be a lot of "this thing happened and the city's so walkable" but also "this completely opposite thing happened and this other city's so walkable," so that was a bit muddled.

The choice to zero in on a few neighbourhoods was also a bit puzzling (they certainly weren't the ones I'd have picked--instead of focussing on some outstandingly walkable places, she seemed to choose grudgingly walkable places).

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).

[Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although _Streets for people_ is my favorite book about cities and walking, this one also has some good ideas, problems to be considered, and is an inspiration to those who'd like to go places on their own steam instead of borrowing from the future.

[Michelle G · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s very interesting 3/5