This four-volume collection covers planning theory in conjunction with social, political, economic, and cultural theory. The set is organized both chronologically and thematically, beginning with the key trends in the nineteenth century but primarily concentrating on the subsequent periods, which start from the rise of systematized city planning a century ago and flourished after the mid-twentieth-century social scientific challenges to the technical preoccupations of planning. In each period, the main theoretical movements are introduced through some of the most prominent contemporary writers, reflecting the various approaches in the best scholarship.

Planning Theory includes a full index and a comprehensive introduction, newly written by Ali Madanipour, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. It is an essential work of reference and is destined to be valued by scholars and advanced students as a vital research tool.