"Most of the essays published here previously appeared in Harvard design magazine, Harvard University Graduate School of Design"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: An urban frame of mind / Alex Krieger -- Origins of an urban design sensibility: The first urban conference : extracts -- The emergence of urban design in the breakup of CIAM / Eric Mumford -- The elusiveness of urban design : the perpetual problem of definition and role / Richard Marshall -- Perspectives on a half-century of urban design practice: Urban design at fifty : a personal view / Denise Scott Brown -- Fragmentation and friction as urban threats : the post-1956 city / Fumihiko Maki -- The way we were, the way we are : the theory and practice of designing cities since 1965 / Jonathan Barnett -- Territories of urban design practice: Where and how does urban design happen? / Alex Krieger -- Defining the urbanistic project : ten contemporary approaches / Joan Busquets -- Beyond centers, fabrics, and cultures of congestion : urban design as a metropolitan enterprise / Richard Sommer -- Debates about mandates and purpose: The end(s) of urban design / Michael Sorkin -- Bad parenting / Emily Talen -- Facts on the ground : urbanism from Midroad to Ditch / Michelle Provoost and Wouter Vanstiphout -- Expanding roles and disciplinary boundaries: A third way for urban design / Kenneth Greenberg -- Urban design after Battery Park City : opportunities for variety and vitality / Timothy Love -- The other '56 / Charles Waldheim -- Democracy takes command : new community planning and the challenge to urban design / John Kaliski -- Challenges for the unprecedented phenomena of our new century: Designing the postmetropolis / Edward W. Soja -- Unforeseen urban worlds : post-1956 phenomena / Peter G. Rowe -- Urban design looking forward / Marilyn Jordan Taylor -- Urban design now : a discussion.