As a practicing architect and a leading critic, Michael Sorkin is a unique voice in the debate over how to construct and sustain the city. His dual vocation allows him to bring a special urgency—and no small measure of poignancy—to the persistent question of how our cities can retain their meaning in the frenetically globalizing marketplace. “Urbanism is in crisis,” he writes, “the condition for billions of people in our cities is wretched, and we need to rapidly refit our dysfunctional metropolises for justice and sustainability.” To meet the urgent challenges of planning the postmodern city