It's really interesting how these books have captured my attention.
If any of you out there have similar books you'd recommend I'd love to hear about them.
Ooh, that's really sad to hear; I had assumed it would be a trilogy with the city being the last one!
If the first book typifies the climbing-the-mountain archetype (quite literally in the books case!) and the meaning crisis, the second is a great exploration of neo-luddism and being critical of new technologies effects on people (even if the technology by itself isn't bad), and I was really looking forward to her view of anti-car, utopian urbanism with a third one.
I don't know how similar they are, but someone recommended "Noor" by Nnedi Okorafor recently when I asked this same question and I really enjoyed it. It's less hopeful of a world, and less calming, but also has a lot of similarities in terms of being accepting of technology and how it can improve our lives while also being critical of its impacts on people and not just blindly using/creating it for the sake of "progress".
Start here I suppose: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/43525897
It has a utopian vibe, like Monk and Robot. The world of Zunidh isn't perfect, but it's pretty damn good and getting better, mostly because of the determined, lifelong work of the protagonist and his friends. Kip is the most delightful bureaucrat I can recall seeing in fiction.
Goddard's other books don't always follow the same formula, though they're rarely truly grim. There's more adventure, sometimes violence but not usually large-scale violence. Some are better than others, but they're all very charming IMO.
I’m in other recommendations as well. Robot and monk is a quick and easy read. I’ve already read it twice.