Three decades ago, the Washington Post writer Joel Garreau published his book Edge City. It was subtitled 'Life on the new American frontier', and it caused a huge stir on both sides of the Atlantic. In it, he identified a new kind of place - often yet to be recorded on a road atlas - that was shaping the way Americans lived. But what about the UK? Has the erosion of our planning system - not to mention the covid lockdowns, and our crumbling high streets - been sending us in a similar direction?

David Boyle and Lesley Yarranton both followed the debate from opposite sides of the world, when the UK shuddered at the edge city idea. But a great deal has changed since then. This book takes them in search of a British version of a big American ideal.

With a foreword by Sue Pritchard, chief executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission.