This four-volume Major Work brings together key literatures which offer perspectives on the emergence of the modern city and its connection with the project of modernity. The volumes explore the historical rise of the modern city and theorisations of the dynamics of city-based economic development; the nature of modernist city planning, governance and design; the role that the modern city has played in the rise of societies based on mass consumption; and the intertwining of expression, art and experience in the modern city.

This collection has been built on the premise that cities need to be understood as interdisciplinary objects of study, and the contents have been drawn from a wide variety of sources with roots in areas such as urban anthropology, development studies, economics, history, geography and sociology. The result is a unique and valuable resource for scholars based in a variety of social science and humanities disciplines.

Volume I: The Modern city: Evolution and Development

Volume II: Planning, Governing and Designing the Modern City

Volume III: Consumption, Politics and Popular culture in the Modern City

Volume IV: Modernity, Representation and the City