The book with the provocative title, presented again by the two editors, was first published in the fall of 1953 by Felix Handschin in Basel. It addresses a complex of questions that had significantly preoccupied the two authors, Lucius Burckhardt and Markus Kutter, in their hometown of Basel over the previous five years: Why does society leave urban planning to real estate speculators and officials of the building administration? What causes urban development to be so heavily influenced by hidden capital interests rather than the needs of the residents? Surely, the residents would be capable and likely interested in building their city themselves! Yet their interests do not prevail. And even when they are organized in clubs and associations, they are defenseless against large-scale speculation. The question is: How is the design for the planning of a city created?.