Roots and Routes and the Origins of Urban Theory: A Journey to “Stadtluft Macht Frei”

The assumptions of the major schools of thought in Western social science theories have influenced most areas of study of cities and their relationship with society as a whole. It remains an open question whether those theories are useful in a Third World context and hence how urban bias as a prerequisite for development is linked to development theory? This paper investigates and outlines some ideas for a new approach to tackle and comprehend the new urban reality seen as both a physical and a mental problem related to the realities of lack of a spatial and psychological feeling of belonging and “modernity” as a problem in itself.