Re-Engineering the Twenty-First-Century City

Urban design has a rich history as a theory-driven field guiding practice. The theory is normative, defining ideal urban forms. Today, theories abound, especially with the recent rise in popularity of different “urbanisms.” Dozens of types of urbanisms have been reported including the “new,” “post,” “everyday,” “digital,” “noir,” “messy,” and so on, urbanism (Barnett 2011), further energizing a field already full of good ideas. Yet rarely are the actual applications of urban design theories evaluated to establish a reliable knowledge base for practice. This is unfortunate because, as Jane Jacobs noted, “designing a dream city is easy, rebuilding a living one takes imagination” (Jacobs 2004).