When, in the winter of 2020, the pandemic struck, I had just released a book named Five Rules for Tomorrow’s Cities. In that book none of the following words can be found: disease, plague, pandemic, communicability or virus. So much for my skills with a crystal ball.
Then all my classes went on line.
Then the lockdown.
Faced with nothing but time to sit on my couch, and as frustrated and despondent as the rest of the world, I decided to write another book right away. And even though my academic career was largely focused in Canada, this book would be entirely focused on the USA, where I am from.
Prior to this time I was sure that at the age of 70 I was done with writing books. That Five Rules was my last kick at the can, so to speak. Well, the pandemic intervened. Very soon it became clear to me that the pandemic was making the inequalities of the American political economy all the more glaring, and that my 40 years of exploring how urban design intersected with ecological, social, and economic sustainability equipped me with certain possibly useful ways of looking at the problem, and the time on my hands to do something about it.
But writing this kind of book takes a lot of time. It’s usual for academics to take five years or so between books. Since the pandemic was an urgent matter and since, as I said, I had time on my hands, I resolved to write this book in months rather than years. And that’s what I did.
Also, working with publishers of academic volumes consumes time no matter how fast you write, usually requiring a year or so for production. Life is too short (mine anyway) and this issue is too urgent. So this time I am taking a different approach. In the perhaps foolish notion that, now that we are all in a post COVID reality, a book like this one might do a bit of good, I want to get it into as many hands as possible as quickly as possible. Thus this book is being distributed for free in the electronic version and sold at cost in the physical version. What this process sacrifices by not getting this book into bookstores and university libraries (heck, I have tenure, what do I care) it makes up for (I hope) by letting this book be freely copied and distributed without copyright issues getting in the way.
Naturally, as its author, I think that the contents are important. It would be foolish of me to presume the reader will necessarily agree; but if you do please cast the bread of this book upon the waters.
- Patrick Michael Condon, of Brockton, Massachusetts, USA
What a thoughtful action. Thank you.
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