Cities, Design and Evolution

Why does modern planning sometimes create urban environments that are less attractive and functional than the ‘organic urbanism’ of traditional cities? Cities Design and Evolution takes up the challenge of this question, investigating ‘how cities are put together’, both in the sense of how the parts are organized in relation to the whole, and how they are created or evolve over time.

Cities Design and Evolution offers an engaging and original narrative that interprets planning philosophies from Modernism to New Urbanism, organic theories from Patrick Geddes to Le Corbusier, and evolutionary thinking from Charles Darwin to Richard Dawkins. The book develops a new evolutionary perspective that recognizes both the ‘designed’ and ‘organic’ nature of cities, and provides a rationale and impetus for fresh approaches to urban planning and design.

In what is the first book to significantly apply modern evolutionary thinking to urbanism, Cities Design and Evolution promises to stimulate thought, debate and action concerning the nature of cities and future urban planning. The book should appeal to all who are interested in cities, in design and in evolution.

Why does modern planning sometimes create urban environments that are less attractive and functional than the ‘organic urbanism’ of traditional cities? Cities Design and Evolution takes up the challenge of this question, investigating ‘how cities are put together’, both in the sense of how the parts are organized in relation to the whole, and how they are created or evolve over time.

Cities Design and Evolution offers an engaging and original narrative that interprets planning philosophies from Modernism to New Urbanism, organic theories from Patrick Geddes to Le Corbusier, and evolutionary thinking from Charles Darwin to Richard Dawkins. The book develops a new evolutionary perspective that recognizes both the ‘designed’ and ‘organic’ nature of cities, and provides a rationale and impetus for fresh approaches to urban planning and design.

In what is the first book to significantly apply modern evolutionary thinking to urbanism, Cities Design and Evolution promises to stimulate thought, debate and action concerning the nature of cities and future urban planning. The book should appeal to all who are interested in cities, in design and in evolution.

Stephen Marshall is a senior lecturer at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London. He research and teaching focuses on transport, planning and urban design and their inter-relationships in the form of streets, urban structure and urban morphology.