Imagine Kalamazoo Reads: Happy City by Charles Montgomery
Published on September 04, 2024
Alongside the Imagine Kalamazoo 2035 Strategic Visioning and Master Planning process set to begin this fall, community members are invited to join the first-ever Imagine Kalamazoo Reads community book read and discussion.
For the first Imagine Kalamazoo Reads, community members are invited to read Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery. Happy City poses an interesting and fundamental question: how do our lives in the city – who we see, where we live, and how we get places – shape our sense of happiness?
“We all want to live happy and healthy lives, and this book examines how cities impact the lives and daily experiences of people in ways we may never have thought about before,” explained Vice Mayor Jeanne Hess. “As we start to think about Imagine Kalamazoo 2035 and our city over the next 10 years, this is a great way to start these conversations and this larger community discussion about Kalamazoo’s future.”
Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate in the community book read. Happy City is available from local booksellers, including at a discount from This Is a Bookstore. There are also free eBooks available online, and it’s available from the Kalamazoo Public Library and its digital collection (via Hoopla) as an eBook or audiobook. The author also gave a TED Talk on the topic that is available online (the Happy City Experiment).
After reading the book or watching the TED Talk, participants are encouraged to hold book discussions with their book clubs or friends, family, or neighbors (a Happy City Toolkit is available online with resources, discussion questions, and activities). After their discussion, readers can complete a brief form to share their impressions or responses to the book to be included in the Imagine Kalamazoo 2035 process.
The City of Kalamazoo is also hosting community discussions of the book. The first two scheduled events are:
Monday, September 30
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
This is a Bookstore, 3019 Oakland Drive
RSVP Online
Wednesday, October 23
5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Jerico, 1501 Fulford St
RSVP Online
More events will be scheduled this fall and winter. Complete information on Imagine Kalamazoo Reads is available at
www.kalamazoocity.org/IKReads.
About Imagine Kalamazoo 2035
Imagine Kalamazoo 2035 is a community planning process to create a new Strategic Vision and Master Plan for the City of Kalamazoo. Over the next year, City staff will work with community members to identify strategic goals for the next 10 years and chart a course to achieve them. Imagine Kalamazoo 2035 will officially start in September (look for an announcement soon!) and be completed in five increasingly focused phases, with the adoption of the new Master Plan and Strategic Vision expected in late 2025. The City’s previous master plan, Imagine Kalamazoo 2025, was adopted in 2017. In the time since, 99% of actions contained within the plan have been completed or are currently in progress.