ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is concerned with 'ways of seeing', with 'turns' and paradigm changes in planning history. It looks at changing perceptions, eureka moments and eye-openers which have influenced the processes of city making in modern and post-modern times. The book utilizes a metaphor in order to approach this theme of changing perceptions and inversions, taken from a famous key passage of modern literature. It begins with the understanding of the window metaphor in mind, the contributions to a number of windows upon planning history. The book also deals with an examination of the windows metaphor from a philosophical angle and then discusses legacies and challenges of planning history in an international context. It is also concerned with different modes of (re)presentation ranging from exhibitions to specific narratives off the beaten track.
