Historic Cities: Issues of Urban Conservation, edited by Jeff Cody and Francesco Siravo. Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 2019. 610 pp. $60.00. ISBN9781606065938

have captured the crisis confronting historic cities and issued a call to action in Historic Cities: Issues of Urban Conservation.The book consolidates thinking about, investigations into and actions taken that embarks us on a journey to educate us about and rescue historic cities for the value they represent to us now and into the future.The world is now URBAN and as much as the Development Set still romanticizes rural development at the expense of urban areas, it is cities-all sizes and kinds of cities-that are the future.The book is divided into eight thematic parts preceded by an introduction from the editors, and concluded with illustrative images in the shape of visual summaries.These different sections address the changing nature of historic cities, their geographical diversity, the transformation of traditional cities, how to read the ciy.They address the issues of continuity, identifying heritage values of cities, the challenge of sustainable urban conservation as managing historic cities.For each part, the editors have selected a range of key authors from the early 19th century to 2017, from different professional backgrounds, and regions of the world to offer as wide as possible a panorama.The format allows the reader to take in slowly the sequence of chosen selections.The selections track and illuminate thinking that is bringing change to how we consider historic cities and integrate them into the future.The short bursts of input allow the reader to digest what is presented and the cumulative effect brings home a clarity of why and what has to happen now to make historic cities the resource they are.From the outset we are presented, through variegated sources, disciplines and perspectives with clear admonitions to not ignore the multiple values and purposes