John Nolen's New Ideals in the Planning of Cities, Towns, and Villages is the most thorough assessment of city planning written by an American practitioner before 1920. It records the interplay of urban reform in Europe and the United States, the rise of the planning expert, the design of new towns, and the technique for directing urban expansion on systematic lines. Most important, it documents the blueprint for investing the peace dividend of the Great War to make urban life more fit for democracy. Written for men fighting to make the world safe for democracy, New Ideals revealed how the...