The Building of Cities

Kaiser examines the city-building process from the time when a proposal for urban development is first conceived to the early stages of construction.

Harvey H. Kaiser is the President and founder of Harvey H. Kaiser Associates, Inc. (HHK), a consulting firm providing services in architecture, urban planning, and facilities management. He served for more than twenty years as a higher education administrator at Syracuse University, as a Senior Vice President and University Architect and as Associate Professor in the School of Architecture and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He is the author of many books, including Great Camps of the Adirondacks and Landmarks in the Landscape.

"We must be grateful to an author who puts a spotlight on something we need to see. Kaiser does this very tangibly in a structural analysis of the process of development in three new communities in upstate New York. He makes clear the centrality of the structure of the approval process, the nature and interaction of participants in the process, and the types of concerns evidenced by existing residents of the areas."—Contemporary Sociology

This succinct, well-organized account of three of the fifteen or more attempts at new town development in the last decade is a valuable contribution to the extensive 'new towns' literature as well as to the broader body of work on land use and urban planning in the U.S.

"Almost every age and civilization has had a fascination with new citiies.... Kaiser shows that such endeavors are not without significant conflict involving citizens, developers, and government officials. The story is not yet over, but this description of the developmental processes will interest both citizen and official."—Library Journal