With few exceptions, cities and towns are not created accidentally. Instead, urban planning expert William Fulton suggests that they exist to further a political or economic agenda. But making a better city — or even a really great one — takes intention. His essays in Place and Prosperity: How Cities Help Us to Connect and Innovate show how, over time, a successful place creates enduring economic assets.

Fulton discusses how when conscious thought is put into everything from the layout of roads to the relationships of built environments, cities can be engines of prosperity. He explains how the ideas of place and prosperity are at the heart of what a city is and, by extension, what our society is all about.

Fulton is one of America's thought leaders on land use and both economic and urban development. In California, he served as the mayor of Ventura and the planning director for the city of San Diego and, in Texas, as the head of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University in Houston. He’s currently a professor of practice in Urban Studies and Planning at the University of California San Diego.

Making a Great City is supported by the Kirk Foundation, JE Dunn, Mid-America Regional Council, Kissick Construction , Driven Development, MultiStudio, David & Cathi Brain, and the City of Kansas City, City Manager's Office.