What is the definition of a successful city? Can it be created? And what do the inhabitants of Atlanta, Berlin, or Shanghai think about the state of their metropolis? The authors of the German journal Stadtbauwelt have been addressing such issues for fifty years. The specialized journalist Brigitte Schultz has, for the first time, researched the history of the development and the ideas of Germany’s most significant independent city planning journal. Through numerous original quotes by influential planners and theorists, she shows how the vision of an ideal city has changed radically from the nineteen-sixties until today. The book takes the reader on a journey through half a century of urban development reporting, from the feasibility euphoria of the sixties to the planning skepticism of the first decade of the twenty-first century. It is an intriguing piece of contemporary history for those interested in cities.