ABSTRACT
Five years ago we wrote our book Urban Planning in Europe (Newman and Thornley, 1996) in which we explored the influences on urban planning across Europe. Our aim was to examine the relative impact of broad economic forces, national systems and local politics on urban planning processes. We are now interested in extending our geographical coverage through exploring the way in which strategic planning priorities are determined in the major cities across the developed world. So once again we are interested in the interplay of different levels of influence. In this new project we will need to pay more attention to changes at the global level. We will also need to incorporate new debates in the theoretical literature and new developments in planning practice.
