Cities tend to look alike to us – from the steel, glass, and concrete towers at their core to civic centers, shopping malls, and freeways feeding into the suburbs. But Wade Graham wants us to see more, to appreciate the expressions of ideas in urban design and what the designers were saying about how we should live, work, purchase, and play.

In a discussion of his book, recently released in paperback, Graham identifies seven architectural concepts that he says have shaped urban planning and design in the past century and a half and examines those responsible for them. They range from Bertram Goodhue’s “castles” and Le Corbusier’s “slabs” to Frank Lloyd Wright’s pseudo-rural “homesteads."

Graham, the author of three books, teaches urban and environmental policy at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy.