This week’s round-up of articles for urbanists:

• Thinking of not voting? Think again: Casting your ballot for mayor, city council and trustees has a real effect on your daily life (Surrey Now)

• Megapolitan America:  Although they occupy only 17 percent of the contiguous 48 states’ land base, America’s megapolitan areas are more densely settled than Europe as a whole. (Design Observer Places Journal)

• Jane Jacobs and the book that inspired a revolution: If cities are the greenest form of human settlement that we could possibly aspire to, Jane Jacobs left us the owner’s manual for how to build them. (Grist)

• Why Food Policy is Urban Policy: Forward-looking urban policy must understand and incorporate food systems as a primary and foundational precondition to any and all growth. (CityLab)

• Three Smart Ideas for Improving Our Urban World: The next breakthrough in architecture may not come from the likes of Frank Gehry, whose designs. It’s more likely to come from a chemist. (This Big City)