Planning the Twentieth–Century City: The Advanced Capitalist World

Planning the 20th–Century City: The Advanced Capitalist World examines the innovation and diffusion of modern urban planning ideas in Western Europe, North America, Japan and Australia during the twentieth century.

Stephen V Ward begins by charting the creativity of the early twentieth century, the broader national agendas for social improvement of the inter–war years, the destruction of war and the high hopes for reconstruction after 1945. He goes on to examine the zenith of comprehensive urban modernisation in the 1960s and 1970s and the weakening of urban planning as market–led political ideologies gained ascendancy in the 1980s. Finally, the book discusses the worldwide emergence of the new planning ideology of sustainable urban development during the 1990s and considers the prospects for the new century.

Drawing on a huge amount of recent international research, this book is richly detailed, with examples from many different countries. Its unique chronological and geographical range makes it an indispensable text for anyone who wants to know more about city planning in the affluent world.

The Author.

Acknowledgements.

Introduction.

Nineteenth–Century Antecedents.

The Emergence of Modern Planning.

War, Reconstruction and Depression I: The Major Traditions.

War, Reconstruction and Depression II: The Other Traditions.

Reconstruction and Modernisation I: The Major Traditions.

Reconstruction and Modernisation II: The Other Traditions.

The Zenith of Modernisation and Beyond I: The Major Traditions.

The Zenith of Modernisation and Beyond II: The Other Traditions.

Globalisation, Competitiveness and Sustainability I: The Major Traditions.

Globalisation, Competitiveness and Sustainability II: The Other Traditions.

Conclusions.

Bibliography.

Websites.

Index.

STEPHEN V WARD is Professor of Planning History at Oxford Brookes University. He is also President of the International Planning History Society (1996–2002), and editor of the journal, Planning Perspectives. His previous books include The Geography of Interwar Britain (1988), The Garden City (edited, 1992), Planning and Urban Change (1994) and Selling Places (1998).

"..well illustrated international narrative.." ( Architectural Review, May 2002) 

" will be very useful as a reference volume enabling teachers and scholars to explore themes in city planning such as garden cities another strength of the book is the economic, social and political background which is provided as a context for the evolution of ideas and practice " (Geography, October 2002)

" something of a tour–de–force fluently and attractively written an authoratitve voice on the subject " (Planning History, 2002)