The problems created by metropolitanization have become increasingly apparent. Attempts to limit growth, disperse populations and plan neighbourhoods have been largely unsuccessful. Strategies are needed to improve the world's major cities in the twenty-first century.

Tom Angotti is fundamentally optimistic about the future of the metropolis, but questions urban planning’s inability to integrate urban and rural systems, its contribution to the growth of inequality, and increasing enclave development throughout the world. Using the concept of 'urban orientalism' as a theoretical underpinning of modern urban planning grounded in global inequalities, Angotti confronts this traditional model with new, progressive approaches to community and metropolis.

Written in clear, precise terms by an award-winning author, The New Century of the Metropolis argues that only when the city is understood as a necessary and beneficial acccompaniment to social progress can a progressive, humane approach to urban planning be developed.