The world’s cities are on pace to balloon from 3.6 billion inhabitants today to more than 6 billion by midcentury. As a result, we face both a dire emergency and a tremendous opportunity. At their best, our modern cities are hubs of human connection, fountains of creativity and exemplars of green living. Yet at the same time, they suffer the symptoms of industrial urbanization: pollution, crowding, crime, social fragmentation and dehumanization.Now is the time to envision what cities can be and to transform them.

City 2.0: The Habitat of the Future and How to Get There, produced in partnership with The Atlantic Cities, celebrates 12 promising, provocative responses to this challenge — in realms ranging from transportation to food to art. It asks: How can we transform cities to be sustainable, efficient, beautiful and invigorating? And practically speaking, how do we get from here to there? While this book doesn’t claim to have all the answers, it begins to form the right questions with bold essays from 10 authors including: Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City; Kent Larson, of the MIT Media Lab, who gave the TED Talk “Brilliant designs to fit more people in every city“; Diana Lind, the executive director of Next City; and Emily Badger and John Metcalfe, writers for The Atlantic Cities.

The City 2.0 is available for Kindle and Nook, as well as through the iBookstore. Or download the TED Books app for your iPad or iPhone, and get a subscription with a new TED Book every two weeks.