Jury Citation

“Witty, erudite, and intrepid, Happy City combines superb reportage with bold thinking to explore how one of our century’s defining creations, the megacity, need not be alarming or alienating. Refitting cities for sustainability, and for a new, necessary kind of ‘happiness,’ may sound utopian, but Charles Montgomery builds a vision and argument out of real people, real situations, real solutions. A philosophy of city that is also a philosophy of being—the deepest kind of urban design.” – 2014 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction Jury (Charles Foran, Priscila Uppal, and Merrily Weisbord)

Jury Citation

“More than 70 per cent of Canadians now live in cities. Charles Montgomery’s timely book, Happy City, argues that well-designed urban spaces create happier, healthier citizens – young and old, rich and poor. With impressive research, Montgomery examines city planning gaffes and successes around the world. By book’s end you will look at your own neighbourhood with new eyes.” – 2013 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing Jury (Licia Corbella, Jane O’Hara, and Doug Saunders)