THIS PRESENTS A beautifully illustrated comparative study of nineteenth and twentieth century urban design and plan development practices in four port cities: London, Barcelona, New York and Rotterdam. The book addresses the question of the degree to which and the manner in which urban planners are accountable for the cultural significance of the design and redesign of infrastructural works, in this case specifically that of seaports. Each type of port in the four selected cities is characterized by a particular spatial form of the relation between city and port, and by a specific cultural appreciation of this form.

The book’s central theme is whether it is still possible to design public urban areas that are simultaneously meaningful on more than one level, namely those of large-scale infrastructure and the local urban fabric. All four port cities discussed have old harbour areas that are being reorganized – and can be seen as laboratories for new experiments that focus on designing a link between these two levels. The significance of such experiments extends far beyond the harbour areas themselves.

The introduction discusses the identity of the port city and the noticeable emphasis on the cultural significance that these areas are supposed to have in the plan and design for old harbour areas. The chapter also discusses the modernity of the port city and the disappearance or renewal of public space in the twenty-first century, and redefines the public domain. This is followed by four chapters, with many maps and illustrations, describing the history and role of urban planning in the four cities, up until the present time. The last chapter draws attention to the fact that, in all four cases, the twentieth century has been characterized by difficulties in situating large-scale infrastructure networks (not only harbours but also highways, railroads and airports) with respect to urban settlements. It also notes that the situation has not always been so, and that the importance of an integral approach to public space and infrastructure is gradually being "rediscovered” as an urban design project.

The issue at heart of the publication is the discipline of urban planning. The port areas discussed have been given the role of “coat racks” on which "…the story of the discipline itself can be written.” The book is not meant only for professionals, and serves both as a travelogue and a theoretical reflection. The book will be of interest to anyone curious about, or interested in, the future spatial quality of large cities.