Humanise

Our world is losing its humanity. Too many companies care more about their shareholders than society. Too many politicians care more about power than the people who vote for them. And too many cities feel soulless and depressing, designed for business, not for us. So where do we find hope? From one of the world's most imaginative designers comes a story about humanity told through the lens of our buildings. Though most of us sense that there is something seriously wrong with our cities, Thomas Heatherwick reveals just how bad it is. He offers us a fiercely passionate analysis of why we're surrounded by buildings that make people sick, unhappy and damage the planet, and how we can make them better for everyone. The time has come to put human emotion back at the heart of the design process. Drawing on thirty years of making bold, beautiful buildings, and recent advances in neuroscience and cognitive psychology, Heatherwick takes us on a journey full of vivid stories and hundreds of images brought together into a visual masterpiece that will inspire us to do nothing less than remake our world. 'Humanise is a masterwork. It's quietly furious, impassioned, rigorous and forensic in all the right doses. It leaves me very hopeful indeed about how things could go from here' ALAIN DE BOTTON 'This book is a super accessible guide as to why we shouldn't put up with soulless buildings and how we might change that' GRAYSON PERRY 'Thomas Heatherwick brings a velvet sledgehammer to the way we think about buildings and how they change our lives. In simple, elegant words, he demands that we put people first. Not developers, politicians or architects. I want to live in the kind of city Heatherwick imagines! Vive la revolution!' SIMON SINEK