This book investigates the characteristics of today's built environment: no longer simply a city but increasingly large conurbations made up of a number of development clusters, linked by transport routes. The diffusion of the once compact city into a city web, the 'meta city' is mirrored by changes in society from communities with strong social cohesion and interest in their towns and cities to individuals pursing their own goals, with global social links and little interest in their city.

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This book investigates the characteristics of today's built environment: no longer simply a city but increasingly large conurbations made up of a number of development clusters, linked by transport routes. The diffusion of the once compact city into a city web, the 'meta city' is mirrored by changes in society from communities with strong social cohesion and interest in their towns and cities to individuals pursuing their own goals, with global social links and little interest in their own town or city other than the quality of their personal space.
The account is complex and on a number of levels; social, philosophical, economic and environmental. The difficulties in managing or even controlling the city web, divided arbitrarily into areas of limited size and political power, are enormous. Areas compete with each other rather than co-operate. The book provides a better understanding of this new type of urban form and argues for a change in planning systems for better management.

Denken und Handeln von Stadt- und Raumplanern konzentrieren sich oft immer noch auf Probleme unserer Alt- und Kernstadte. Ausgangspunkt von Sieverts UEberlegungen ist nun die Feststellung, dass sich die kompakte historische europaische Stadt aufloest und einer ganz anderen, weltweit sich ausbreitenden Stadtform Platz macht: Der verstadterten Landschaft oder der verlandschafteten Stadt, die Sieverts mit dem Begriff "Zwischenstadt" kennzeichnet. Die Idee der "Europaischen Stadt" aber gilt es umso eher zu bewahren, je mutiger sie als besonderer Teil eines steter Wandlung unterworfenen Stadtwesens gesehen wird, das kein "Bild" mehr abgibt.

Lutzow 7 own their reputation of long standing to the representative civic open spaces that they have designed for the German Chancellery, the Reichstag building and the Jewish Museum in Berlin, among many others. Yet their design approach of "representative tranquility", as one of the book's contributions is entitled, has produced about one thousand projects over the years - seven of which, more exactly 5 built + 2 under construction, from Germany, Belgium, Italy and Ireland, form one of the main parts in this landscape-architectural monograph. Other sections strive to grasp the essence of Lutzow 7's approach to landscape design in a panoramic portfolio and also in a directory to important design tasks and typical solutions in the realm between wilderness and detail. Tom Sieverts, the creator of the "in-between city" paradigm, and Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Canadian pioneer of the return to nature-oriented design and well acquainted with the partners Cornelia Muller and Jan Wehberg's work, contribute their personal views.