Headline snaps up housing journalist Gabriella Bennett's How to Build a City

Headline has snapped up How to Build a City: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Resilient Living by the Times and Sunday Times housing journalist Gabriella Bennett.  

Senior commissioning editor Bianca Bexton acquired world rights in all languages from Sophie Lambert at the C&W agency in a pre-empt. The book is scheduled for publication in August 2026. 

“Growing up in the experimental Scottish New Town of Glenrothes, built post-Second World War to house tens of thousands of people in brand-new modernist houses that signalled a new way of living, Gabriella Bennett’s interest in the impact of radical building was sparked at an early age,” the publisher said. “Specialising in housing in her journalism, she now spends her life assessing architectural sites to understand how they influence ways of living in the present and future.” 

In How to Build a City, Bennett "will explore how towns and cities across the globe are being reimagined to embrace the challenges of contemporary life”. The publisher explained: “At a time of great flux — social and political instability, global droughts and flooding, and an increased pressure on materials and space — Gabriella embraces the opportunities provided as we rethink the impact of architecture and urban planning.” 

Bennett said: “I’m so excited to take readers on my travels around the world in search of life-enhancing architecture. Home is fundamental to being human, and exploring the radical possibilities of home has never felt more urgent than now. It feels like a thrilling time to be joining Headline and I can’t wait to start working with Bianca and the team.” 

Bexton added: “As soon as I started reading Gabriella’s incredible writing, I just knew we had to publish her at Headline. How to Build a City is an ambitious exploration of the future of homes in the face of challenges such as climate change, war, overpopulation and loneliness. Celebrating the ingenuity of human creativity to design and make the homes, neighbourhoods and cities of tomorrow, Gabriella offers a beautifully written and thought-provoking insight into where we live and why it matters. I’m thrilled to be working with her.”