Featuring publications of relevance to our industry, including those cited in SDS e-newsletter lead articles and suggested additional reading, we’ve recently relaunched the SDS Reader’s Corner book of the month page. Each month we will showcase a suggested read that relates to our professional areas of interest, be it a seminal publication or something more tangential. We hope the books we select will offer you insights and inspiration.
If you any suggestions of books, particularly newly published ones, that you think would be of inte arest to our community, please email us: enquiries@signdesignsociety.co.uk.
For October ’25 we feature The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces by William H. Whyte (published by Project for Public Spaces, Inc., on 12 May 2021).
Synopsis
“Whyte’s classic 1980 study of New York’s plazas started a mini-revolution in urban planning and design. Out of print for six years, PPS has acquired the rights and is thrilled to make this important book available again to the public.
Both the book and the accompanying film were instantly labelled classics, and launched a mini-revolution in the planning and study of public spaces. They have since become standard texts, and appear on syllabi and reading lists in urban planning, sociology, environmental design, and architecture departments around the world.
With the publication of the book and its companion film in 1980, the world could see that through the basic tools of observation and interviews, we can learn an immense amount about how to make our cities more liveable. In doing so, Holly Whyte laid the groundwork for a major movement to change the way public spaces are built and planned. It is our pleasure to offer this important book back to the world it is helping to transform.”
Buy a copy now
As of 01.10.2025, the paperback edition is available to at $32.54 from Bookshop.