London YU Book Club
Join the first meeting of the London Young Urbanist book club this autumn, discussing Italo Calvino's 1972 book Invisible Cities
Date: Tuesday 11 November 2025
Time: 18.30
Location: The Edgar Wallace, 40 Essex Street, Temple, WC2R 3JE
The London Young Urbanists are kicking off the inaugural book club at the Edgar Wallace pub on Tuesday 11 November. The text for discussion will be Italo Calvino's 1972 book Invisible Cities. Spaces are limited so please book ahead.
"I speak and speak' Marco says, 'but the listener only retains the words he is expecting... It is not the voice that commands the story: it is the ear".
The same could be said for how we experience cities.
Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, our first choice for the book club discussion, reveals the city as an infinite layering of systems, processes, and relationships, each uniquely perceived by its inhabitants. The reader is invited to consider the influence of memory and aspiration on the built form, how hidden infrastructures sustain urban life, and how community connections animate urban life.
We’ll use Calvino’s surreal vision as a starting point from which to discuss how cities are described, imagined, and experienced, and what might be 'invisible' in our own London.
The event will be held at the Edgar Wallace pub in Temple, with a range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic refreshments available for purchase.
