I’m always reading to learn more—about cities, communities, people, and the kinds of ideas that can help us build a better Thunder Bay. The books listed below have and continue to shape how I think about growth, connection, and what it means to truly belong somewhere.
If any of them interest you, you’re welcome to borrow from my personal library—and if you’ve read something that made you see your city differently, I’d love to hear about it.
Jeff Siegler is one of my favourite voices in this arena. His social media accounts - Revitalize or Die offer City administrators often much needed doses of reality. In Your City is Sick, Siegler calls out apathy and challenges residents to take responsibility for their places. In Thunder Bay, this message hits hard: we can’t afford to stop caring. Pride is the cure.
Jane Jacobs spent her early life in New York CIty before moving to Toronto to continue her work. Later awarded the Order of Canada, Jacobs fought against top-down planning and showed how vibrant cities grow from the ground up. Her ideas: walkability, mixed uses, and busy streets built for life still shape smart city building today. For Thunder Bay, it’s a reminder that great places come from people, not just plans. Also, if you've ever been on a Jane's Walk, you've experienced the magic of Jane Jacobs yourself - and if you haven't, don't miss the next one!
This book is a wake-up call about civic decline and a roadmap back to cooperation. Kalen-Sukra urges local governments and residents to lead with respect, compassion, and collective effort. Timely advice for building a more united Thunder Bay.
This book challenges how cities like Thunder Bay and many others in North America were built. With a focus on growth at any cost, and not on long-term sustainability. Chuck argues for small, local investments, walkability, and people-first planning. It’s a must-read for anyone trying to build a city that isn’t just bigger, but stronger and smarter.
You don't need to be in charge to change things. Every big thing that has ever been done was because a group of people decided they were going to do it. Liu shows how everyday people can influence change, even if they don’t hold power. Sometimes especially when they don't hold traditional power. It’s a call to step up, get involved, and shape the future of your city. A great reminder that Thunder Bay’s future is in the hands of its people.
If you want a better city, ask yourself what you could do to make it a bit better yourself - without permission, without help. Just you. What's one thing you could do that would actually make a difference - even a small one? In Community, Block argues that the real power to fix communities lies with the people who live in them. He focuses on shifting from passive complaining to active problem-solving. It’s about stepping up and building the city we want together.
Have you ever visited a place that just felt good? Or turned a corner down an unfamiliar street and instantly felt uncomfortable? In Happy City, Montgomery shows that city design directly affects how happy we are. He makes a powerful case for walkable neighbourhoods, shared spaces, and thoughtful planning that puts people before traffic. A reminder that when we build well, we live better.
There's a great documentary on Netflix about this book called Join or Die as well. If you think back, your parents, certainly your grandparents were members of some sort of club - the Moose, a bowling league, a union, etc. In famous 19th century book Democracy in America, author Alexis de Tocqueville identified how it was 'association' that was the key to the success of democracy in America. In America, every individual saw their relevance to the group and understood the value they both provided and received from the group. In Bowling Alone, Putnam tracks the decline of community involvement, and how this is resulting in the problems we see in the world today - crime, fear, poverty, housing, loneliness, etc. At the end of the day, social capital will always be more important than financial capital, but social capital can't be built alone.
Since the dawn of civilization, most people have lived in some form of Ruler/Subject system. In that system, all the subjects know they will never be king, and this creates a sense of connectedness with the other subjects, or at least isn't a source of division. But in the modern day, we are taught that if you just worked hard enough, anyone could be king. Which while technically true, is so obviously unlikely it's inherently false. I don't know the stats, but I'd bet that you're statistically more likely to be born royalty than to become Jeff Bezos. When we were all just subjects there was incentive to work together for each other; and the king knew that he had to placate the subjects just enough so that they didn't rise up and revolt. But in the modern, you-could-be-king-too world, it's everyone for themselves. Subjects are fighting ech other for scraps and the kings aren't worried about a revolution. In Citizens, Alexander argues that communities thrive when people stop seeing themselves as consumers and start shaping their city. It’s exactly the mindset Thunder Bay needs as we invite people to co-create the future.
Speck makes the case that walkability isn’t just about sidewalks, it’s about building cities people want to live in. His “Ten Steps of Walkability” are an easy to follow guide on how to ensure smart growth at the ground level as we reimagine neighbourhoods for people, not just cars.
It seems everyday, we have less and less "third places" in our lives - places other than home or work, where we spend time. Forever, it has been these places where community is built. The barista you say hello to everyday. The woman who says Good Morning to you everyday as she passes by while walking her dog in the park In Palaces for the People, Klinenberg shows how libraries, parks, and community centres are the quiet heroes of strong cities. We all know how important infrastructure projects are and this book helps make the case for not just building roads and bridges but also investing in spaces that bring people together.
In Deepening Community, Born explores what it means to truly belong to a place, and why that sense of connection is vital. It’s a powerful read for anyone working to strengthen Thunder Bay’s social fabric. Real community starts with real relationships.
Kaplan focuses on the building blocks of strong communities: trust, care, and local leadership. He shows how small, neighbourhood-level change can reshape entire cities. It's reminder that change doesn’t need to be big, it needs to be close to home.