Professor Bird presents a synthesis of the many approaches to the study of a central featuer of modern life – the city, including its distant past and its future. He sees centrality as a mental projection on to space, and discusses the concept in relation to three types of its manifestation in spatial terms: the city as centre of a tributary region; the centres and central areas of cities themselves; and the city considered as a centre or gateway for other distant regions, often overseas.

This book should do much to unravel the funamental similarities between cities of the world while recognizing the myriad variations upon a common theme.

This book was first published in 1977.