This interdisciplinary book lays the foundations for a new critique of human societies examining how humans, as a species, are suited to live across the rural-urban spectrum. It proposes a new perspective for urban studies, ultimately centred on human nature. Evolutionary perspectives are at the core of the book and are linked to other disciplines such as economic geography, sociology, anthropology, geographical psychology, environmental psychology, genetics, and ontogenetics.

The book summarises the academic state-of-the-art of the various fields under discussion, each expressing its own angle which, when holistically presented in the same volume, enriches the integrated understanding of such a multilayered theme. The timing of this book is critical: today, more than ever, we live in urban environments of some description or other and, within the coming decades, large numbers of new dwellers will ‘choose’ cities as their permanent place of residence. For this reason, the author argues that urban planning and design must embrace this unique opportunity to build ex-novo urban and non-urban settlements for billions of people in liveable ways. The interdisciplinary approach brings together the study and understanding of cities from diverse disciplines.

This topical work therefore offers the reader a new understanding of how – and tentatively, why – living in cities affects humans for better or worse. It indirectly underlines the importance of smaller settlements based on empirical evidence, without necessarily having to escape from the big city, which instead could become more attractive if wisely planned and integrated in the larger multivariate territory. The author provides educated insights for policy and planning, inducing habitats which could be optimal for our wellbeing and progress.