The present volume, in a comprehensible and attractive way, brings closer to the reader the history of planning of cities from the oldest times of human civilization until the 20th century. The author does not limit himself to the history of European urban planning, presenting also forms of cities established in pre-Columbian America, India, China, South-Eastern Asia or in Islamic countries. He shows traditions of formation of cities in Polish lands, which are very rarely dealt with in the world literature on the subject.

Using the work is made easy, with its very rich illustrative material: plans of cities, historical maps and photographs which show how places look nowadays. Apart from just a few exceptions, almost all of the 300 photographs inserted in this monographs were taken by its author while exploring cities in different regions of the world.

The History is addressed not only to specialists and students of urban planning, geography of cities, sociology of cities or history, but also to everybody interested in cities, their development and shaping of their form.