The work of the chef and writer, who has died at 61, provides a model for a truly inclusive urbanism based on the creativity of all human beings

Anthony Bourdain is one of the two people who have most inspired my work on cities and urbanism. Where Jane Jacobs helped define my intellectual agenda, it was Bourdain, who died on Friday morning at age 61, who motivated me to spread the message of cities and urbanism broadly.

Bourdain in 2001, when he was still the chef-owner of Les Halles in New York City.
Bourdain in 2001, when he was still the chef-owner of Les Halles in New York City. © Jim Cooper/AP

A brilliant chef-turned-writer-turned-TV-star who was as good or better on camera as he was on the page, most people saw him as a chronicler of food and culture. But I always saw him as a chronicler of cities, and a truly great urbanist. He may not have seen himself that way—in recent years he ceased to refer to himself as a chef or a journalist, so single-minded was he as a traveler and epicurean—but it’s a central part of his work and legacy.

Bourdain used food as his lens to explore and unveil the intersection of human creativity, authenticity, and community. In his travels around the world and in the forgotten corners of his own country, he captured the creativity of real people in real communities. His favorite setting, aside from family dining rooms, seemed to be busy outdoor markets. There he could be found sampling street foods, illuminating the essential humanity—the smells and tastes, the honks and shouts—of the marketplace and community.

Watch him, or read him, on and in Pittsburgh, on and in Beirut, on and in Lagos, on and in Berlin.

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