The current state of our cities and suburbs is cause for alarm. Fortunately, however, movements in some circles of contemporary urban design are stirring up new ideas to address some of these problems. A solution known as "New Urbanism" promotes methods that work to meet the needs of modern urban societies without discarding ideals of the past. Its proponents advocate the restructuring of public policy and development practices to support urban restoration, suburban reconfiguration and nature conservation. They also believe that all elements of urban development must address the issues of environment, economics, community and design, simultaneously. The Congress for the New Urbanism states in its website:

New Urbanism promotes the idea of building places that people want to live and work in. I believe that this approach will help restore beauty and community in our living spaces which will result in a greater sense of contentment for the individual and society as a whole.

An even greater hope remains in the restructuring the curriculums of our public schools to stress the importance of art and design training for our children.

Regarding the roots of spatial cohesion, history reminds us of the Medici family that governed Florence for several generations. They were well educated patrons of the arts and were instrumental in the design of this breathtaking city during the Italian Renaissance. Lorenzo de Medici sponsored schools that trained renowned artisans who created its magnificent cathedrals, palaces and city squares that are now the admiration of the world.

There are those who feel that today, as then, art training should be given the same priority as science at all levels of education.  Their belief is that a greater focus placed on art education will help to create a new generation of competent architects, city planners, zoning board members, developers, and politicians that will be less inclined to tolerate disheartening architecture and thoughtless urban planning. A new generation of responsible adult decision makers will be cultivated who value art and see its connection with life around them. They will have learned lessons from the failures of the twentieth century and will hopefully, like the Medicis, encourage the development of beautiful cities once again.

After the successful termination of the war of Serezana, the Florentines lived in prosperous tranquillity until the death of Lorenzo de' Medici in 1492; for after having established peace by his good judgment and authority, Lorenzo devoted his attention to the aggrandisement of the city and of his own family. He married his eldest son Piero, to Alfonsina, daughter of the Cavaliere Orsini, and had his second son promoted to the dignity of cardinal, which was the more remarkable as it was unprecedented, the youth having hardly completed his thirteenth year.

This was in fact a ladder by means of which his house was enabled to mount to heaven itself, as indeed it happened in the course of time. He could not provide equally good fortune for his third son, as he was still too young when Lorenzo died. Of his daughters, one was married to Jacopo Salviati, another to Francesco Cibo, and a third to Piero Ridolfi; but the fourth, who, by way of keeping the family united, had been married to Giovanni de' Medici, her cousin, died. In his commercial affairs, however, Lorenzo was very unfortunate; for through the irregularity of his agents, who managed his affairs, not like those of a private individual, but of a prince, the greater part of his private fortune was consumed; so that he was obliged to call upon his country to aid him with large sums of money. In consequence of this he gave up all commercial operations, and turned his attention to landed property, as being a more safe and solid wealth. He acquired large possessions in the districts of Prato and Pisa, and in the Val di Pesa, and erected upon them useful and elegant buildings, not like a private citizen, but with truly royal magnificence.

After that he directed his attention to extending and embellishing the city of Florence, in which there was still much vacant land. Here he had new streets laid out and built up with houses, whereby the city was greatly enlarged and beautified. And to secure greater quiet and security within the state, and to be able to resist and combat its enemies at a greater distance from the city, he fortified the castle of Firenzuola, in the mountains towards Bologna; in the direction of Siena he began the restoration of the Poggio Imperiale, which he fortified in the most complete manner. Towards Genoa he closed the road to the enemy by the acquisition of Pietrasanta and Serezana. Besides this, he maintained his friends the Baglioni in Perugia with subsidies and pensions, and the same with the Vitelli in Citta di Castello; and in Faenza he kept a special governor; all of which measures served as strong bulwarks to the city of Florence.

David Mayernik in his book 'Timeless Cities', considers four great and  famous Italian cities--Rome, Venice, Florence, and Siena as models of a "usable past," as resources for the better construction of future cities. It is a plea for the revival of humane urbanism. "We have the paradox today," Mayernik argues, "of being a generally more equitable society than, say, 14th-century Siena, but we have built for ourselves a far less humane environment." Cities such as Siena, Mayernik writes, "are still accessible to us, and they often strike visitors as oddly familiar, more like home than home itself."