I am very pleased to report that on March 24, 2022, Routledge Press published my new book, Co-crafting the Just City: Tales from the Field by a Planning Scholar Turned Mayor. Narrated from my perspective as a city council member and (for the last four years, as mayor), the book reports how, using democratic processes of governance, the residents and elected leaders of one city in the midwest of the United States (Iowa City, Iowa) tried from 2012 through 2019 to co-craft their city’s future while being immersed in a complex and contentious flow of action. In particular, the book first seeks to give readers a sense of what democratically-elected city council members and mayors in the United States do and what it feels like to occupy and enact those roles. Second, it seeks to document what happened when council allies and I tried during my terms as mayor from 2016 through 2019 to lead our relatively small city toward becoming a more inclusive, just, and sustainable place; that is, a more “just city.” Third, the book endeavors to help readers understand what it feels like to be an urban-planning scholar serving as a council member and mayor, and to share lessons I learned with other scholars, especially those who focus on planning theory. By doing so, it seeks to stimulate creative thought, research, and action about how the crafting of city futures can be improved. And, fourth, the book offers a practical, action-oriented set of ideas about how city futures are being (and can be) shaped.
Details about the book and how to purchase it can be found at: https://www.routledge.com/Co-Crafting-the-Just-City-Tales-from-the-Field-by-a-Planning-Scholar-Turned/Throgmorton/p/book/9780367751043
Storytelling and Cities 