In an effort to examine the state of disarray of contemporary public architecture, this collection of essays provides opinions and commentary on how the appearance of buildings has reflected society over time and what improvements need to be made in today's designs. Highlighting the issues of today's architecture, editors Nathan Glazer and Mark Lilla put together a collection of essays that aim to create critical and responsible appraisal of today's building projects and urban plans. This provocative book brings together nearly thirty thoughtful essays that explore what vital public architecture has meant in the past and what it should mean in the future. Covering topics such as the philosophical, historical, and practical principles of publics spaces, conflicts over the funding and placement of public art, and civic architecture's relation to political order, the strong minded and consistently clear authors of these essays provide insight on the all too often ill-conceived and uninspired American public architecture of the modern day and how it reflects our confusions about public life itself.