Sidewalks in the Kingdom

This is a month overdue, but over Christmas Break I had the time to read the book Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith, which I finally got to after a year of owning it.  Being an urban planning student, this topic is something I find extremely fascinating and I thought I could benefit from having a greater Christian perspective on it.

Overall, the book is very straightforward and covers the issues as a New Urbanist would look at them, but adds a good Christian emphasis.  At times I found the book simplistic, but I think I may be beyond the intended audience a little bit.  As an introduction to urban issues, it does an excellent job at getting the basics and their importance across.  It could be infinitely helpful to people who have not thought about these things as much as I have.  In the end, I didn't so much learn anything new about New Urbanism, but I was impressed by the Christian emphasis it did give.  It definitely helped refocus my thinking about things and why I'm going to school for what I am.

I would recommend reading this book if you are interested in these kind of things, especially reasons why Christians should care about our cities.  It is a pretty easy read.  If you want to borrow it from me, just let me know.