Main entry:

Carvalho, Bruno, author.

Title & Author:

The invention of the future : a history of cities in the modern world / Bruno Carvalho.

Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2026]
©2026

Description:

xviii, 417 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 379-401) and index.
Introduction -- I. No city, no future? -- II. Making plans -- III. Under a warmer sky -- 1. In pursuit of the future (1750s-1790s) : Lisbon + Paris, London, St. Petersburg, Vila Rica, and more -- I. Earthquake and revolutions -- II. Inside the grid -- III. Secular utopia -- IV. Resonances -- 2. New worlds emerge (1790s-1840s) : New York + London, Washington, DC, Paris, Philadelphia, Salvador, and more -- I. Leaping ahead -- II. Outside the grid -- III. Gained illusions and slavery -- IV. Between Heaven and Hell -- 3. Everything seems possible (1850s-1880s) : Paris + New York, Barcelona, London, Berlin, Vienna, Boston, and more -- I. The spectacle of progress and its discontents -- II. Modernity as rupture and continuity -- III. Competing futures -- IV. Unplanned afterlives -- 4. Possibilities and limits (1870s-1910s) : Rio de Janeiro + Mexico City, New York, Chicago, Havana, and more -- I. Black streets, white masks -- II. Futures deferred -- III. How the other half lives -- IV. Haussmannization Americanizes -- V. Reinventions -- 5. The sky is not the limit (1900s-1940s) : Buenos Aires + Garden Cities, New York, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Paris Rome, and more -- I. The world of tomorrow -- II. Destructive torrents and explosions -- III. Futures in transit -- IV. The star of the south -- V. Divided we stand -- 6. After the future? (1940s onward) : Lagos + Brasília, Suburbia, Algiers, Dakar, the Pacific Rim, and more -- I. We were never modernist -- II. Which dreams are over? -- III. Endings and beginnings -- Epilogue -- I. Pedestrian futures -- II. Where can the future go?

Summary:

The Invention of the Future is a historical and analytical study of urban planning over the past three centuries. Bruno Carvalho examines visionary designs, technological innovations, and key urban transformations in cities worldwide, showing how imagined futures often diverged from reality. Through case studies--from post-earthquake Lisbon to Manhattan, Paris, Brasília, and African cities--the book explores continuity and change in urban development and considers lessons for sustainable, transit-oriented city planning in the twenty-first century.

ISBN:

0691246556 (hardcover)
9780691246550 (hardcover)
PDF ebook
9780691246567

Subject:

City planning History.
Urbanization History.
Urban renewal History.
Cities and towns History.
Rénovation urbaine Histoire.
Villes Histoire.

Form/genre:

History.
Informational works.
Documents d'information.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 325933
Call No.: 325933
Copy: 1
Status: Available