ABSTRACT
The task of providing a conclusion to the various themes explored in the preceding
chapters is a complex one. Each of the elements considered might appear rather
discrete, dealt with as they are under such specific categories. Furthermore, the detail
of these phenomena may emerge as being at odds with the historical sweep of the
early chapters and their emphasis on the broader picture. Yet since I believe in
the interconnectedness of the general and the particular and the historical and the
contemporary (not always in conscious or deliberate ways), I want to reverse the
hitherto narrowing focus of my thoughts. I shall broaden out from the specific
circumstances of particular urban ensembles to more general aspects of theory
and design, and finally to speculations grounded in the direct experience of urban
societies. In this direction we move from examples of urban regeneration through
the relationship between urban aesthetics and ethics toward the social purpose of
urbanism.
