"Artificial towns" in the 21st century

The central question of this book is that whether the development of new towns was the possibility of a new urban development model or an unfulfilled promise. Moreover, whether a special town type, different from any other town types, was created in the case of new towns in East-Central Europe, including Hungary. We want to answer this central question not by the method based on going back to historical traditions. The original town plans and urban planning doctrines have never been realised, they were always compromised partly due to momentary political interests, and partly to short-term economic, mainly cost-saving aspects. The book describes the current trends, today's new town types and other urban models with their differences and similarities. Our aim is to find the still existing relecancies of the new town's character, to reveal what the new towns of East-Central Europe are like today, whether they offer something else, something unique campared to other spatial formations, something that may explain why many people like, can and want to live in them and this could serve as a basis for building the future.