Cities today are paradoxical. They are engines of innovation and opportunity, but they are also plagued by significant income inequality and segregation by ethnicity, race, and class. These inequalities and segregations are often reinforced by the urban built environment: the planning of space and the design of architecture. This condition threatens attainment of wider social and economic prosperity. In this innovative new study, Dean Saitta explores questions of urban sustainability by taking an intercultural, trans-historical approach to city planning.

Saitta uses a largely untapped body of knowledge—the archaeology of cities in the ancient world—to generate ideas about how public space, housing, and civic architecture might be better designed to promote inclusion and community, while also making our cities more environmentally sustainable. By integrating this knowledge with knowledge generated by evolutionary studies and urban ethnography (including a detailed look at Denver, Colorado, one of America’s most desirable and fastest growing ‘destination cities’ but one that is also experiencing significant spatial segregation and gentrification), Saitta’s book offers an invaluable new perspective for urban studies scholars and urban planning professionals.

'This book is in the vanguard of efforts that use cities from the distant past to shed light on contemporary urban processes. It gives scholars, policy makers, students, and others interested in urbanism today much to think about. * Michael E. Smith, Arizona State University *
Saitta is unique in that he is as sharp a critic of contemporary urbanism as any geographer or city planner, while at the same time bringing to bear a career of research on ancient cities and forms of life. This book does an excellent job of synthesizing vast amounts of scholarship while showcasing new data from contemporary and archaeological case studies. * Scott Hutson, University of Kentucky *

Dean Saitta is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Urban Studies program at the University of Denver. His research interests include ancient city planning and design, comparative architectural and urban form, and North American archaeology. He is the co-author of Denver: An Archaeological History (2000).