We live in a self-proclaimed Urban Age, where we celebrate the city as the source of economic prosperity, a nurturer of social and cultural diversity, and a place primed for democracy. We proclaim the city as the fertile ground from which progress wi...

City and regional planners talk constantly about the things of the world – from highway interchanges and retention ponds to zoning documents and conference rooms – yet most seem to have a poor understanding of the materiality of the world in which th...