This book argues that the design of built spaces influences civic attitudes, including prospects for social equality and integration, in America. Key American architects and planners―including Frederick Law Olmsted, Frank Lloyd Wright, Robert Moses, and the New Urbanists―not only articulated unique visions of democracy in their extensive writings, but also instantiated those ideas in physical form. Using criteria such as the formation of social capital, support for human capabilities, and environmental sustainability, the book argues that the designs most closely associated with a communally-inflected version of democracy, such as Olmsted's public parks or various New Urbanist projects, create conditions more favorable to human flourishing and more consistent with a democratic society than those that are individualistic in their orientation, such as urban modernism or most suburban forms. “Scott Roulier’s wonderfully engaging and approachable book will be essential reading for students of architecture, landscape architecture and city planning, to further their understanding of how design traditions that they may lean on in scholarship and practice―from Frederic Law Olmsted’s parks movement, Robert Moses’ modernist city, to the form based codes of the New Urbanism, among others―actually foster (or sometimes subvert) the democratic ideals of social equity and civic life. It is a timely contribution to draw the city design disciplines into thinking more deeply about creating just cities and landscapes.” (Tanu Sankalia, Associate Professor and Director of Urban Studies, University of San Francisco, USA) “Bringing diverse voices like Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Law Olmsted, Frank Lloyd Wright, Robert Moses, and Jane Jacobs into conversation with contemporary political theory, Roulier offers not only a rich intellectual history but important insights into how land-use issues raise critical challenges for the future of our democracy. This is an invaluable book that will appeal to scholars and students of political theory, environmental studies, intellectual history, public policy, and urban planning.” (Peter Cannavò, Associate Professor of Government and Director of Environmental Studies, Hamilton College, USA) This book argues that the design of built spaces influences civic attitudes, including prospects for social equality and integration, in America. Key American architects and planners―including Frederick Law Olmsted, Frank Lloyd Wright, Robert Moses, and the New Urbanists―not only articulated unique visions of democracy in their extensive writings, but also instantiated those ideas in physical form. Using criteria such as the formation of social capital, support for human capabilities, and environmental sustainability, the book argues that the designs most closely associated with a communally-inflected version of democracy, such as Olmsted's public parks or various New Urbanist projects, create conditions more favorable to human flourishing and more consistent with a democratic society than those that are individualistic in their orientation, such as urban modernism or most suburban forms. Scott M. Roulier is the John Trimble Professor of Political Philosophy at Lyon College, USA