ABSTRACT
Cities are mankind’s most universal contribution on earth. Throughout human history, it is within cities that mankind has explored all counterpoints of himself in relation to his physical world: man within architecture, man within nature, man as individual and communal being, man and machine, mankind within temple and shelter. From the ancient urbs of Rome to the modernity of downtown America, the historical aim of urban planning has been to impose physical order on things that by nature are chaotic. For two millennia, cities have been formed by the seemingly omniscient hand of urban planning or, less fortunately, by the lack thereof. Herein lies the virtually impossible meaning of urban planning.
