The City in Mind is a far-reaching discourse on the history and current state of urban life. Kunstler reflects on various and diverse cities across the world and investigates the nature and character of their city lives. From London to Mexico City, he takes an in-depth look at each city's history, development and state of architectural and societal success. Other cities explored include Rome, Berlin and Paris. In his investigations, he discovers a disparate Europe with its mix of pre-industrial creativity, war-marked reminders of the twentieth century, and the architectural aftermath of World War II, modernism, and for some, the Cold War. In his discussions on Western culture, Kunstler expands the notions of urbanism first discussed by Jane Jacobs. His examination of cities is at once a concise history of their urban lives and a detailed criticism of how those histories have either aided or hindered the social and civil progress of the cities' occupants.