With inspired pictures and prompts, Cities Made Differently asks what a city is, or could be, or once was. Sleeping at the bottom of the ocean? Buried in lava? What were those cities of long ago, and what will the cities of the future be? They might be virtual, ruled by AI, or islands of beautiful architecture afloat in seas of greenery. They might be utopian places of refuge or refugee camps as far as the eye can see. On land, underground or aloft, excavated or imagined, cities, this book tells us in provocative and funny ways, can be anything we want them to be—and what we want them to be can tell us something about who we are, what it is to be human, and what’s possible when we make way for wonder.

Cities Made Differently exists in two versions, one for reading and thinking, the other, downloadable at a4kids.org, for drawing and dreaming.

Flying Сity
It’s in the air

The City That Always Sleeps
Machines do the living for you

City in the Clouds
Scholars control the ones below

Military Town
Machine city for perfect soldiers

City of Freedom
People are smart and know how to run things

The City of Play
Play is freedom

City of Greed
Too much is never enough

City as a Family
No more strangers

City in the Desert
They made it

Sanctuary City
Where there’s a place for everyone

Leader City
Safety first

City of the Watched
Ready or not, here we come!

Transparent City
No secrets, no crimes

City of Masks
Reinvent yourself!

Invisible City
A fantasy of total control

Solitude City
Privacy is a privilege

One-Man City
You are the one

Ghost Town
At first sight deserted

City of Runners
Only one comes in first

Underground City
Under the radar

City in the Ocean
The only law they obey is their own

City of Punishment
They know how to keep you in line

Trash City
Sorting the refuse of others

Noah’s Ark
One house for the whole earth

Model City
City as showcase

City Under Siege
Stay human

Sun City
Leave it to the experts

School City
Live and learn

City of Care
No one is an island

Afterword
How doing things alone became doing things together

Study Materials
The building blocks of this book

Index

Glossary