Can large-scale housing development achieve an urban renaissance? Large housing estates have long been regarded as examples of poor construction, political indifference and social alienation. But in Germany reunification and globalisation are in many areas leading to the recognition that urban development calls for large-scale residential provision with high design values; well-built structures that address social diversity, heterogeneity, integration and coherence. This publication contains just such models for future living conditions; examples of good design that set high standards of global relevance.