This volume is the first of three publications emanating from the American Institute of Planners' nationwide campaign to encourage study and public education on "the future environment of a democracy." Experts in many areas scrutinize the psychological, physiological, and social needs of modern man in an attempt to discover the kind of environment he requires to realize his full potentialities as a human being. Scientists, social scientists, architects, and community leaders provide an over-all view of the present trends in an increasingly urbanized society, and work toward the identification of an optimum environment, as distinguished from one that merely meets certain requirements. This concept includes, but goes far beyond, traditional aspects of city planning, such as architecture, zoning, traffic control, and abatement of air and water pollution. Topics covered include the limitations and potentials of man's adaptation to environment in determining human traits; the role of ethics in planning, politics, and social theory; the city as a mechanism for sustaining human contact; future trends in the form and structure of metropolitan areas; what science, both social and physical, can contribute to planning; how aerospace systems technology can be utilized in the creation of environment; and the role of large-scale enterprise in the creation of a better environment. (BL)