As holiday shopping season swings into full force, consider buying the sustainable transportation advocate in your life a book we loved over the past year ... or just buy a few for yourself.
Let's face it: the people on your gift list this year probably already have enough sweaters and socks to last a lifetime. So in the grand tradition of Jólabókaflóð — the Icelandic "Christmas book flood" tradition, where families spend the day curled up with brand new reads — we're recapping some of our favorite conversations we had with authors this year, and recommending some books we think are perfect for celebrating whatever holiday is on your horizon.
In no particular order, here are 10 of our top picks.
'Killed By a Traffic Engineer' by Wes Marshall
Okay: we know this title might not sound like the cheeriest pick for the holiday season. But trust us: Wes Marshall's groundbreaking exploration of how traffic engineers think, practice, and — yes — exacerbate the bloodshed on our roads is a surprisingly funny and approachable read, and an instant classic for Vision Zero advocates who wants to unpack the structural reasons why transportation in the United States is such a mess. We loved it so much that we interviewed Wes on both our podcasts, and published an excerpt to boot.
Here's the link to buy it.
'Movement' by Thalia Verkade and Marco te Brömmelstroet
Streetsblog USA Editor Kea Wilson's single favorite read of the year was this slim but provocative volume about what our streets are really for – and why even the Dutch (gasp!) have work to do to make them better.
Written by the Twitter-famous "fiets professor" Marco the Brömmelstroet and award-winning journalist Thalia Verkade, this is essential reading for anyone who wants to think deeply about the values behind why we fight for safer streets and great mobility for everyone, and what can happen when we lose sight of them. Read an excerpt or buy it here.
'Movement' by Nicole Gelinas
Weirdly, there were two excellent books titled "Movement" released this year that Streetsblog readers will love! Streetsblog NYC described this one as "an extensive, decades-long look at how America's greatest city went from a pedestrian and transit paradise to a car-choked, polluted mess," and Editor Gersh Kuntzman said it "offers a term paper's worth of remedies for any society that wants to change." Read the Streetsblog NYC interview below, and buy it here.
'City Limits' by Megan Kimble
In her astonishing new book, journalist Megan Kimble turns the glacial process of building (and protesting) an urban highway into a gripping drama, by focusing on one of the most destructive highway-builders of all: the Texas Department of Transportation. This is another book we loved so much that multiple Streetsbloggers interviewed the author, and it's the perfect pick for readers who want a good story and an incisive examination of why we're still building monster roadways in the year 2024. Buy it here.
'When Driving is Not An Option' by Anna Zivarts
Friend of Streetsblog and fantastic writer Anna Zivarts finally put out her much-awaited book this year, and it's an absolute must-read for anyone who cares about the deep intersections between the disability rights movement and the movement to end car dependency. But Zivarts's book also encompasses a broader conversation about everyone who can't drive — including children, elders, immigrants, the low-income, and many more — and how much better our cities could be if we considered their needs. Buy it here.
'The Architecture of Urbanity' by Vishaan Chakrabarti
Beautifully designed books always make for great gifting, and Vishaan Chakrabarti's lavishly illustrated new book is a great pick for the urbanist aesthete in your life. Check out an excerpt of some of the book's hardest-hitting data visualizations below, and make sure to listen into Jeff Wood's interview with the author to learn more about how community design that confronts car dependency can make our cities better. Buy it here.
'The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook' by Nico Larco and Kaarin Knudson
Speaking of gorgeous image-heavy guides to our urban environment, "The Sustainable Urban Design Handbook" is the perfect way to splurge on the advocate in your life who wants to level up her understanding of what green cities are really made of – including the invisible forces that subtly shape how they're structured. We've spent more than a few lazy mornings paging through the stunning pictures and descriptions in this one, and our interviews with co-author Nico Larco are some of our favorites of the year. Buy it here.
'Human Transit: Revised Edition' by Jarrett Walker
The original edition of "Human Transit" is firmly in the cannon of the best urbanism-related books of all time, so it was a treat to talk to author Jarrett Walker about this updated edition, which tackles how the mobility world has changed in the 13 years since initial publication. Buy it here, and read our interview with him to get a taste of his thoughts on how COVID-19, the movement for Black lives, and technological disruption have rocked the transit world.
'The Living City' by Des Fitzgerald
We know a book with the subtitle "Why cities don't need to be green to be great" might not seem like the best pick for a sustainable transportation advocate. But this provocative volume could be the perfect way to shake-up the gift list for the nature lovers in your life — and help them get at the root (see what we did there?) of why we are so attached to green solutions to our urban problems, rather than celebrating the inherent sustainability of urban life on its own terms.
... and one for the kids
Just so the little ones on your list have something to unwrap this year, we'll bend the rules a little bit and uplift this evergreen children's book gift guide Angie Schmitt wrote back in 2018. Got a more recent addition to the list? Email us.
