The Handbuch der Stadtbaukunst is a compendium of essential urban design expertise. Using 150 examples from over 70 German cities, it illustrates, analyzes, and compares a wide range of urban spaces, courtyards, squares, and streets. The four-volume work impressively documents the qualities of European cities described in the Leipzig Charter: beauty and durability, mixed usage, social diversity, density, and the separation of public and private spaces. Editor Christoph Mäckler builds on textbooks of the early twentieth century by Cornelius Gurlitt, Raymond Unwin, and Josef Stubben and offers a well-grounded framework for city planning. Featuring contributions by Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, Christoph Mackler, Werner Oechslin, Alexander Pellnitz, Jan Pieper, Birgit Roth, Mirjam Schmidt, Wolfgang Sonne, Jurg Sulzer and Anne Pfeil, and Thomas Will

Christoph Mäckler is an architect based in Frankfurt am Main, professor emeritus of urban design at TU Dortmund, and director of the Deutsches Institut fur Stadtbaukunst, which he founded in 2008. From 1990 until 1997 he held visiting professorships in Naples, Braunschweig, and Hanover, and was a member of the Internationale Bauakademie Berlin.