The city: a place of hopes and dreams, destruction and conflict, vision and order. The first city atlas, the Civitates Orbis Terrarum, was published by Braun and Hogenburg in 1572 for the armchair traveller interested in a world that was opening up around him. Since then our fascination with foreign cities has not abated. This sumptuous volume looks at the development of the mapping and representation of the city revealing how we organize the urban space. From skyline profiles, bird's eye views and panoramas, to the schematic maps of transport networks and road layouts to help us navigate, and statistical maps that can provide information on human aspirations, cities can reveal themselves in many ways. Focusing on key points in the development of urban representation and including visions of the future of how we would be living today, this enlightening book illustrates some of the oldest, youngest, liveliest, and most contested cities in the world. Each map has a purpose and its design reflects this. Extended captions explain its relevance and elegance. For anyone interested in the city in which they live or with the desire to explore the history and culture of a metropolis overseas, this book is an enlightening companion.

Jeremy Black is Professor of History at the University of Exeter and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. He is the author of more than eighty books and has lectured extensively around the world. Jeremy's recent publications include Avoiding Armageddon: From the Great War to the Fall of France, 1918-40 (Bloomsbury, 2012), The Great War and the Making of the Modern World (Continuum, 2011) and London: A History (Carnegie, 2009).