Design for a democratic society was a matter of urgency in bombed-out postwar Europe. Swiss sociologist, journalist, professor and founding father of strollology Lucius Burckhardt (1925-2003) pioneered the interdisciplinary analysis of man-made environments, and thereby highlighted both the visible and invisible aspects of our cities and social relations. Acutely aware of how our interventions and decisions shape the world, and how the changing world in turn, shapes us, his life-long focus was not only the prerequisites of architecture, urban planning and design but also their long-term impact. Teaching and practice still owe much to his work. Thus, the first selection of Lucius Burckhardt's texts to appear in English, introduces his groundbreaking theory of environmental design, in retrospective tribute to a prescient thinker.

From the 1950s, Lucius Burckhardt (1925-2003) focused on planning, design, and construction in a democracy. His astute observations and critical analysis have had a fundamental effect on the design of our environment, on teaching in the architectural/planning professions, and on our understanding of what "city" means. His research, which - between mighty commercial interests and conflicting political aspirations focuses on the benefit for the entire population - is indispensable when and wherever buildings are planned, designed, built, and inhabited. With a new selection of texts, this book ploughs a furrow through Lucius Burckhardt's theory of planning.