Patrick Geddes and Town Planning

Patrick Geddes is considered a forefather of the modern urban planning movement. This boook studies the various, and even opposing ways, in which Geddes has been interpreted up to this day, providing a new reading of his life, writing and plans. Geddes’ scrutiny is presented as a case study for Town Planning as a whole. Tying together for the first time key concepts in cultural geography and colonial urbanism, the book proposes a more vigorous historiography, exposing hidden narratives and past agendas still dominating the disciplinary discourse. Written by a cultural geographer and a town planner, this book offers a rounded, full-length analysis of Geddes’ vision and its material manifestation, functioning also as a much needed critical tool to evaluate Modern Town Planning as an academic and practical discipline. The book also includes a long overdue model of his urban theory.

Author Biography

Noah Hysler Rubin is qualified as a town planner and holds a PhD in Geography. She is a research fellow at the Institute of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University and teaches history and theory of town planning at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.