City Squares: Eighteen Writers on the Spirit and Significance of Squares Around the World, by Catie Marron. Harper Collins, April 2016, 375 pages, $32.50.

Catie Marron, chairman of the board at Friends of the High Line in New York, has collected 18 thoughtful essays on urban squares to follow her previous book, City Parks: Public Places, Private Thoughts (2013). Prominent writers such as Ann Beattie, Adam Gopnik, and Zadie Smith, along with other contributors such as architect David Adjaye and filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, reflect on the meaning and character of some of the world’s most beloved and distinguished public places. Each is illustrated by evocative color photographs, many in lush two-page, full-bleed spreads.