A Children's Story Book for Urban Planners

A child’s first experiences of cities are formative, awe-inspiring moments. Planetizen Press' Where Things Are From Near To Far, the urban planner’s favorite kids book, tackles take a look at place-making from the eyes of a child in 22 vibrant, full-color pages. The book aims to answers the questions: How did cities come to be? Who plans what goes where?

Every day, city planners help shape our cities and towns -- making streets safe for pedestrians, improving building designs so they meet the needs of citizens, improving traffic flow, creating bike paths and city parks, and preserving historic buildings. This book is a tribute to the work that they do in hopes that kids will learn more about this city planning as a career at a young age.

Engaging Educational Content for Little Ones

Written by Planetizen Managing Editor Tim Halbur and Editor Chris Steins, the book was inspired by Steins' desire for a book to introduce planning to his twin three-year-old boys. Where Things Are From Near To Far, is based on the urban-to-rural transect, which divides cities into six different zones ranging from rural countryside to dense skyscrapers. The transect is a great way to look at the building blocks of a city, and to start thinking about how all the pieces of a city get planned in relation to one another. The urban transect was originally created by Andrés Duany, a Miami architect.

While playing in the city park, little Hugo wonders, "Who put these buildings here?" Hugo's mother leads him on a whirlwind trip through the city, the country, and everything in-between to explain the answer. This engaging book is an easy introduction to the world of urban planning, and illustrates that "every building has its place."

“Though ample children’s books profile police officers, firefighters and doctors, there are comparatively few in-print titles that focus on careers in the built environment, librarians say.”
-New York Times

"This is a delightful book that was very helpful in explaining to my four-year old what I do in my work. He enjoyed exploring the illustrations and everything from cows to stores."
-Jennifer Evans-Cowley, PhD, AICP Associate Professor, City and Regional Planning, Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University