Within the concept of the 'sustainable city' nothing is fixed, mapped or agreed upon. To some, the term encompasses innovation, change and commitment to the future and to others it means preservation, conservatism and a watchful eye on the future. City Fights follows on from the symposium 'Energy and Urban Strategies', which brought together contributors from a wide variety of disciplines, with the aim of developing sharp ideas about making better and more sustainable cities in environmental, social and economic terms. The result is a passionate and illuminating debate on this vast question, bringing into focus the complexity and diversity of the issues involved. City fights is essential and thought provoking reading for all with a common interest in the future of the city- from architects and urban designers, urban and town planners and policy makers, to academics and researchers, sociologists, environmentalists and economists.

Introduction * Theme 1 City and Culture: Overviews of Sustainability - The City in the Post-Industrial Information Society: Transforming from a Place of Production to a Place of Consumption * Picture This: Conceptual Models and Sustainable Cities * from Object to Procedure * Theme 1 Discussion * Theme 1 Response * Theme 2 Politics and Planning: Winning Hearts and Minds - Mission Impossible: Politics and the Production of Urban Space * Car-sharing in Switzerland: a Case Study * Theme 2 Discussion * Theme 2 Response * Theme 3 Testing and Modelling. The Metabolism of Cities - The City as Natural Form: Models of Urban Microclimates * Energy and Environmental Quality in the Urban Built Environment * Theme 3 Discussion * Theme 4 Synthesis and Shape: Designs on the City - Hidden Technologies * Emerging City Shapes: Energy at the Urban Scale * Theme 4 Discussion * Theme 4 Response * Participants in Discussion Texts