Ian Jones is the Secretary of CAMOC (Collections and Activities of Museums of Cities), one of the international committees forming part of the International Council of Museums.Robert R. Macdonald is director emeritus, Museum of the City of New York, where he previously served as CEO for 17 years.Darryl McIntyre has been group director for public programs at the Museum of London since November 2003.

• Chapter 1. Cities and Museums about ThemChapter 2. City Museums and the Geopolitics of GlobalizationChapter 3. Museums of Cities and the Future of CitiesChapter 4. "The Novelties of the Town:" Museums, Cities, and Historical RepresentationChapter 5. The Prospect of a City MuseumChapter 6. Thinking the Present Historically at the Museum of Sydney, Sydney, AustraliaChapter 7. A City Museum for Stuttgart: Some Issues in Planning a Museum for the 21st CenturyChapter 8. Taipei City Museum in the MakingChapter 9. Museums and Urban Renewal in TownsChapter 10. The Development of the City of Kazan: The Museum AspectChapter 11. Defining a Research Agenda for City Museums in a Peripheralizing WorldChapter 12. From Urban Blocks to City Blogs: Defining Attributes for the City Museum of Today

Cities need museums as people need memories: not as a repository of their past, but as a token of their identity and a guide to the future. Here is a unique survey of city museums from five continents to stimulate discussion about such museums' varied functions – from archive to development workshop.