In What Cities Say, Emily Talen provides a wide-ranging yet concise synthesis of the fundamental drivers of built form, its social and cultural meaning, and how we should interpret it. Including thirty-five distinct city patterns and forms, Talen develops a language of interpretation to understand the motive and meaning behind the city and its elements. By exposing these meanings, Talen asserts that we will be in a stronger position to articulate, and argue for, the kinds of cities we want.

“Marshall writes with wit, reason, and style . . . An excellent resource on the history and future of American cities.” —Library Journal Do cities work anymore? How did they get to be such sprawling conglomerations of lookalike subdivisions, mega freeways, and “big box” superstores surrounded by acres of parking lots? And why, most of all, don't they feel like real communities? These are the questions that Alex Marshall tackles in this hard-hitting, highly readable look at what makes cities work. Marshall argues that urban life has broken down because of our basic ignorance of the real forces that shape cities—transportation systems, industry and business, and political decision-making. He explores how these forces have built four very different urban environments: the decentralized sprawl of California’s Silicon Valley; the crowded streets of New York City’s Jackson Heights neighborhood; the controlled growth of Portland, Oregon; and the stage-set facades of Disney’s planned community, Celebration, Florida. To build better cities, Marshall asserts, we must understand and intelligently direct the forces that shape them. Without prescribing any one solution, he defines the key issues facing all concerned citizens who are trying to control urban sprawl and build real communities. His timely book is important reading for a wide public and professional audience.

Cities are playing an ever more important role in the mitigation and adaption to climate change. This book examines the politics shaping whether, how and to what extent cities engage in global climate governance. By studying the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and drawing on scholarship from international relations, social movements, global governance and field theory, the book introduces a theory of global urban governance fields. This theory links observed increases in city engagement and coordination to the convergence of C40 cities around particular ways of understanding and enforcing climate governance. The collective capacity of cities to produce effective and socially equitable global climate governance is also analysed. Highlighting the constraints facing city networks and the potential pitfalls associated with a city-driven global response, this assessment of the transformative potential of cities will be of great interest to researchers, graduate students and policymakers in global environmental politics and policy.

Twenty-five years ago the school children used to chant their lessons. The manner of their delivery was a singsong recitative between the utterance of an Episcopal minister and the drone of a tired sawmill. I mean no disrespect. We must have lumber and sawdust. I remember one beautiful and instructive little lyric that emanated from the physiology class. The most striking line of it was this: "The shin-bone is the long-est bone in the hu-man bod-y." What an inestimable boon it would have been if all the corporeal and spiritual facts pertaining to man had thus been tunefully and logically inculcated in our youthful minds! But what we gained in anatomy, music and philosophy was meagre.

When we read, study, and gather around God’s Word, special things happen. We begin opening up, caring for each other, and helping each other grow. We discover a new power in our lives and find new strength for living as the Holy Spirit shapes us into a beautiful example of community. The CSB Life Connections Study Bible is a revised and updated version of the best-selling and renowned Serendipity Study Bible. The original Serendipity Study Bible was the culmination of 40 years of community building by Serendipity House Publishers, which revolutionized small groups and personal study through thousands of accessible questions and study helps throughout the Bible. The CSB Life Connections Study Bible includes thousands of questions and study helps for all 1,189 chapters of the Bible—all updated for today’s readers. This Bible includes short chapter-by-chapter comments about key people, places, and events along with guidance through the "Open-Consider-Apply" method for small group study and personal reflection. • "Open" questions initiate discussion and/or reflection • "Consider" questions focus on the details of the passage • "Apply" questions encourage application to daily life • Also included are select “For Groups,” “For Worship,” and “Dig Deeper” questions for further study, reflection, discussion, and application. Additional features include: Study note commentary on every page to accompany the thousands of chapter specific margin questions, 60 “life focused” course study plans, 16 topical course study plans, two-color interior design, smyth-sewn binding, presentation page, single-column text, topical subheadings, black-letter text, 9-point type, textual footnotes, concordance, and full-color maps. The CSB Life Connections Study Bible features the highly reliable, highly readable text of the Christian Standard Bible® (CSB), which stays faithful to the Bible's original languages without sacrificing clarity. With its optimal blend of accuracy and readability, the CSB is ideal for the church—for reading, for teaching, for sharing with others.

The City of God is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. The book was in response to allegations that Christianity brought about the decline of Rome and is considered one of Augustine's most important works. Augustine wrote The City of God as an argument for the truth of Christianity over competing religions and philosophies. He argues that Christianity was not responsible for the Sack of Rome, but instead responsible for its success. Even if the earthly rule of the Empire was imperiled, it was the City of God that would ultimately triumph. As a work of one of the most influential Church Fathers, The City of God is a cornerstone of Western thought, expounding on many profound questions of theology, such as the suffering of the righteous, the existence of evil, the conflict between free will and divine omniscience, and the doctrine of original sin.