Cities of Tomorrow: An Intellectual History of Urban Planning and Design Since 1880

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This book is very informative on the history of planning and the social movements surrounding it. However, it can be very redundant and wordy. Some of the chapters which deal with very interesting topics are destroyed because the author includes too much irrelevant information.

This book is a very impressive work of synthesis about a huge topic. Professor Hall traces a series of diverse themes about the city planning process that overlap, reinforce, and contradict one another at various moments. He does so with humor and erudition, encompassing an enormous number of books and hundreds of examples of urban planning successes and failures with which he was personally familiar. The book is not perfect. There are a couple of instances where he mentions a specific city in the sub head of a chapter title, only to fail to mention anything about that city in the actual text. At one point he extensively quotes himself, referring to himself by his name without providing any acknowledgement that he is quoting himself. He also does not offer his own all encompassing definition or theory of the city planning process, and his recurring theme seems to be that the various approaches to planning promised great things but all too often delivered very little.The book also contains some surprises. For a field that today is considered by many Americans to represent government interference with private property rights, Professor Hall argues that many of the founders in the field embraced the anarchist tradition, meaning, in this case, that they emphasized individuals and groups taking the initiative to improve their community independent of government. Most of the basic ideas and issues in planning originated before World War Two and have never really gone away. And there was a fascinating oscillation of planning concepts between Europe and the United States, in many cases originating in Europe, being tried and abandoned in the US, and then being applied back in Europe. I only wish the author had been a bit more selective in his use of examples to make his points, because sometimes it is difficult for the reader to see the forest because of the trees.

Very pleased

One of the single best books on the history of urban form and planning. I cite it all the time and chapters stand alone as perfect reading assignments for advanced undergraduates and graduates.

This text is not only boring, but also presents opinion as fact. The tone is often condescending, particularly in regards to modernism. The author perpetuates the Pruitt-Igoe myth in the book as well. This is not well-suited to being an academic textbook, although it tragically is an assigned reading in my school of design's city planning program. Not only does this book mislead students in regards to the history of design, it does not offer balanced viewpoints. All this aside, the title of the text in of itself shows a level of pretension and self-promotion that should be embarrassing to academics.

Delivered quickly and as per description. So happy

This is a great book with some interesting perspectives. I especially loved how he traced the roots of planners back to anarchy theory.Well worth the read and money.

An extremely important book for anyone wanting to understand the field of urban planning. Beautifully written.

Amazing planning text

In this very lengthy fourth edition of a work initially published thirty years previously, Peter Hall sets out at age 79 to describe the intellectual history of urban planning from 1880 to 2011.This proves a challenge to read, even for the most motivated person. The book could mercifully have been edited to half its length as it provides way too much detail, especially with respect to British issues. Though there are interesting elements of analysis, much appears closer to reminiscences than to history. Indeed, there is no conclusion or opening towards the future, simply an end. Combined with the author’s rather dismal view of planning, this makes for a disheartening work.In addition, the presentation does not match 21st century expectations. Strangely for a book dealing with planning, no maps whatsoever are presented. Illustrations are limited to scarce black and white photos of poor quality and questionable pertinence, as many are of presumably famous planners. The lay-out is hopelessly traditional.Overall, the book’s title “Cities of Tomorrow” is a total misnomer as it deals with urban planning rather than cities per se and very much more with the past than with the future.Sadly, there is no reason to recommend it to anyone.