Louis Albrechts is professor of planning in the Department of Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Leuven, Belgium. Seymour Mandelbaum is professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, USA

• Introduction: A New Context for Planning? Part 1: The Network Society: A New Paradigm? 1.1 Communicative Action and the Network Society 1.2 Planning and the Network City 1.3 Escaping the Prison of "the Present Place" 1.4 The Discourse Network Part 2: Organization of Space and Time 2.1 Impact of Physical Networks 2.2 Organization of Space and Time: Challenges for Planning and Planners Part 3: Policy Networks and Governance 3.1 Local Networks and Capital Building 3.2 Governance Capacity, Policy Networks, and Territorial Specificities

"Albrechts and Mandelbaum present 18 papers,along with occasional commentaries, that take different positions on the question of whether the concept of “network society” (associated with the work of Manuel Castells) should be considered a new context for planning. The papers are organized into sections broadly concerned with the impact of physical networks; challenges for planning and planners inthe organization of space and time; local networks and capital building;and governance capacity, policy networks, and territorial specificities." --Reference & Research Book News