Preface

This book is an account of over two decades of life in Rome, observing the city, learning about it everyday, and working humbly in hopes of making it an even better place. Some of the content will be familiar to readers of the Still Sustainable City Blog, but much is new and written from memory, which is known to play tricks. There are probably inaccuracies, which I am happy to fix in future editions, but I sincerely hope I haven’t painted an erroneous picture of Rome — or of anyone of its players — in these pages.  If so, please drop me a line at tom@romeworks.net and I will make amends.

-Tom Rankin

“The greatest function of the city is to encourage the greatest possible number of meetings, encounters, challenges, between varied persons and groups, providing… a stage upon which the drama of social life may be enacted.”
-Lewis Mumford