Australian Urban Planning addresses these questions by describing and analysing the various theoretical, political and institutional forces that have shaped and continue to reshape public urban planning in Australia since the Second World War.

Australian Urban Planning explains the historical origins of planning and the nature of the diverse recent changes that have both reshaped and threatened its original purposes. It presents planning as a form of urban governance in which spatial regulation reflects such competing claims as economic growth, social justice, global economic transformation and ecological sustainability.

Australian Urban Planning consists of three parts. The first part presents a rich account of what has happened to Australian cities and their management over the last two decades. The second surveys the most significant ideas that have informed planning theory over that period and demonstrated the many impacts those ideas have had. The final part sets an agenda for the future of urban governance.