Good Places

  • Harald Welzer's most literary book to date, surprising, provocative, inspiring
  • The new book by the SPIEGEL best-selling author
  • Harald Welzer's work is translated into Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Spanish, Swedish

How emotions determine our existence

Where and how can we achieve a good social coexistence and transformation?


The starting point of this book is the consideration that “good places” are needed for a happy and meaningful life and for the transformation that our society is facing. These are places where people feel comfortable, that promote cohesion, that inspire everyone present, that, through the way they are built/thought/planned and realized, realize something of what we and our society urgently need.  The aim of the book is to tell of the conditions for such places, to present successful examples and to report on the experiences that Harald Welzer has had in such places, which have had a positive effect on his thinking and actions.


"The book takes a critical look while also focusing on optimism." - FALTER, Christina Vettorazzi

"Recommended for reflection and discussion!" - ekz-Informationsdienst, Annette Rugen

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  • Publisher: S. FISCHER
  • Release: 10.09.2025
  • ISBN: 978-3-10-397691-5
  • 304 Pages
  • Author: Harald Welzer
Good Places
Harald Welzer Good Places
Debora Mittelstaedt
© Debora Mittelstaedt
Harald Welzer

Harald Welzer is one of the most pugnacious intellectuals in Germany. With wit and judicious argumention, he attempts to bring about a better and more open society, sustainability, and democracy. He directs FUTURZWEI. Stiftung Zukunftsfähigkeit and is a professor of Transformation Design in Flensburg. He also teaches at St. Gallen University and at the ETH in Zurich. Fischer has published a number of his works, including "Selbst denken" (2013), "Die smarte Diktatur. Ein Angriff auf unsere Freiheit" (2016), "Alles könnte anders sein. Eine Gesellschaftsutopie für freie Menschen" (2019), and "Nachruf auf mich selbst" (2021). His books have appeared in 21 countries.