Book review: Sanctuaries of the city: lessons from Tokyo

How do we find calm in dense heaving cities such as Tokyo, London, or New York? In Sanctuaries of the City, Anni Greve explores how places such as market squares, arts venues, and religious sites offer sociospatial capacities that enable the development of skills for coping with modern forms of living. From its empirical analysis of sanctuaries in Tokyo, this book develops a theory about mega-cities, urban sociability and identity. Rebecca Litchfield finds that although the density of this text may not appeal to all readers, the book’s methodological approach should appeal to scholars across a broad spectrum of disciplines.