Jon A. Peterson presents a sweeping narrative history of the origins of city planning in the United States, from its 19th-century antecedents to its flowering in the early 20th century. The text is supplemented by a selection of historic plans, illustrations and photographs.Topics covered in detail include the McMillan Plan for Washington, DC (the first comprehensive plan for an American city), the City Beautiful movement, the major planners - Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr, Charles Mulford Robinson, John Nolen, and others - who led the planning movement; the ascendancy of a generalist approach to the shaping of the physical city, the role of the Progressive Era reform, and the emergence of city planning as a novel field of public endeavour. This book should appeal to students and scholars in urban studies, community planning, American history (the Guilded Age and Progressive Era), American studies, architectural and landscape history, as well as environmental and planning history, including practising professionals in related fields.