The contributors of Policy, Planning, and People argue for the promotion of social equity and quality of life by designing and evaluating urban policies and plans. Edited by Naomi Carmon and Susan S. Fainstein, the volume features original essays by leading authorities in the field of urban planning and policy, mainly from the United States, but also from Canada, Hungary, Italy, and Israel. The contributors discuss goal setting and ethics in planning, illuminate paradigm shifts, make policy recommendations, and arrive at best practices for future planning. Policy, Planning, and People includes theoretical as well as practice-based essays on a wide range of planning issues: housing and neighborhood, transportation, surveillance and safety, the network society, regional development and community development. Several essays are devoted to disadvantaged and excluded groups such as senior citizens, the poor, and migrant workers. The unifying themes of this volume are the values of equity, diversity, and democratic participation. The contributors discuss and draw conclusions related to the planning process and its outcomes. They demonstrate the need to look beyond efficiency to determine who benefits from urban policies and plans. Contributors: Alberta Andreotti, Tridib Banerjee, Rachel G. Bratt, Naomi Carmon, Karen Chapple, Norman Fainstein, Susan Fainstein, Eran Feitelson, Amnon Frenkel, George Galster, Penny Gurstein, Deborah Howe, Norman Krumholz, Jonathan Levine, Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Enzo Mingione, Kenneth Reardon, Izhak Schnell, Daniel Shefer, Michael Teitz, Iván Tosics, Lawrence Vale, Martin Wachs. "A fresh look at planning theory and practice, providing a comparative perspective with a focus on issues of equity and social justice." ― Gary Hack, University of Pennsylvania School of Design "A much needed and welcome contribution to our study of cities, planning and change. Written and edited by internationally renowned authors, the work reestablishes the importance of place and people in the discourse of cities and planning during an era of uncertainty, austerity and economic rejuvenation. With discussion of the global economic downturn, the protest movement, poverty alleviation, the role of housing and neighborhoods, and the fate of different citizens in these turbulent times, the book challenges the continued clamor for neoliberal thinking. It reminds 'the one percent' that inequality and social justice need to be tackled and people's concerns will be heard in governments. This is not the story of city planning: it's the story of the way we live today." ― Mark Tewdwr-Jones, Newcastle University "In our urban century the majority of the people on our planet will live in cities. Urban agglomerations tend to become the ultimate 'destiny' of mankind, with unforeseen challenges. In the 'new urban world' dominated by connected cities and urban networks, our society will face serious concerns related to housing, sustainable modes of living, poverty, employment, accessibility and economic vitality. These issues are too important to be left to the uncertain and hidden hand of market mechanisms. This volume offers a refreshing collection of studies and insights regarding the complex governance of human settlements, from the perspective of justice, in our new urban world." ― Peter Nijkamp, VU University Amsterdam Naomi Carmon is Professor of Urban Planning and Sociology at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Susan S. Fainstein is a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the author of The Just City. Preface: Purpose, Context, and Process of the Book This collection of invited essays, especially written for this book, provides the readers with the state of the art of urban studies and planning oriented to the theme of Planning as if People Mattered. In addition, it offers proactive urban planners and urban policy makers cutting-edge conclusions on central policy issues, as well as recommendations for coping with the challenges of enhancing quality of life for all in the built environment. In the last few decades, much of urban policy and planning has focused on increasing the competitiveness of cities. Embedded in the ideology of neoliberalism—a belief that markets offer the best approach to improving the human condition—the focus on competitiveness by urban governments has essentially made an analogy between the efforts by businesses to gain a lion's share of their market and that of cities to capture productive enterprises. This approach presents at least two serious problems to those concerned with the well-being of urban residents: First, can we simply write off those places that do not prevail in the contest, as we would for businesses that are obsolete? And second, if success in the battle for investment depends on winning the race to the bottom—competing on the basis of low wages, deregulation, weak environmental protection, displacement of residents