This short book invites readers into a deeper understanding of cities and suburbs and the challenges they face. Because places play such an important role in human well-being, loving our neighbors includes caring for and cultivating good places for all. Despite their great prosperity, North American communities are beset with challenges: fiscal crises, concentrated poverty, fragmentation and division, failing schools, unaffordable housing, and lack of community feeling. Good Places combines a biblical framework with an exploration of how cities, neighborhoods, housing markets, and transportation systems work. Readers will find themselves challenged to extend Christian hospitality beyond the walls of their private homes into zoning codes, local politics, neighborhood associations, faith-based housing providers, and real estate development.

Mark D. Bjelland is Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His research and teaching draw upon academic training and real-world experience in civil engineering, urban planning, and urban geography. He has received Fulbright awards to study urban planning in Germany and the United Kingdom and has studied theology at Regent College in Vancouver, BC. He is the author of Human Geography: Landscapes of Human Activities and research articles in The Geographical Review, The Professional Geographer, Urban Geography, and other journals.