This committee print starts with a pessimistic description of the decay of the economic functions traditionally associated with urban areas. Chapters by educators and public figures in the field focus on different problems of the urban crisis. That federal grants to cities, even when targeted to specific objectives, do not necessarily solve the problems they were designed to deal with is one view presented. Another author notes that much of the failure attributed to the programs of the Great Society were not intrinsic to the programs themselves but rather to the social breakdown accompanying the Vietnam War. It is suggested in another chapter that a Marshall Plan for the cities should be directed towards the rebuilding of neighborhood institutions. Other chapters deal with the following topics: (1) out-migration of the poor and in-migration of the affluent as one way to save the cities, (2) a case study of Baltimore, Maryland, the city with the best track record in neighborhood rehabilitation, (3) how to improve urban transportation and what to do about the automobile, (4) national urban policies in Europe, and (5) political difficulties for city savers. (Author/AM)