A central issue to urban societies, not stressed in texts previously, is the notion of Economic Development. Lichty's book would begin with a discussion of this issue, both on theoretical and on empirical grounds. As such, the early chapters would be organized more like previous editions of Harvey Armstrong and Jim Taylor, Regional Economics & Policy, Third Edition, Blackwell, forthcoming 2000. Lichty then proposes to move on to a discussion of the influences of economic development on urban structure, urban finance, and related issues. Potential growth oriented problems and policies would flow out of this discussion. Finally, the notion of economic forecasting, so absent in virtually all urban texts to date, would be the focus of a separate chapter, again building on the growth and development theme. The rest of the text would be issue and policy oriented.