When designing a city, planners consider numerous factors, such as location, nearby amenities and proximity to public transportation. But there are other considerations the average home buyer may not even think about, such as street layouts and the fiber-optic cable systems buried underground.

In his sixth book, Creating Future Cities: Technology, Ethics, and the Fight for the Good Life, Dr. Shane Epting, an associate professor of philosophy at Missouri S&T, explores the idea that everything about a city involves a fight for the good life , including utilities, the streets themselves, and future building needs and considerations.

Creating Future Cities was published through Routledge on March 22, 2026.

The book builds upon the ideas that Epting developed in his previous work Urban Enlightenment and Meaning in the Metropolis. The book begins by examining the way scholars define the term “city.” He argues that while cities are often described as ecosystems or technologies, these views should be abandoned in most cases.

Instead, Epting believes that cities should be defined as groups of united people capable of shaping the environment and its supporting technologies.

Epting also argues that fighting for better cities is not merely about control. The goal of involvement in an individual’s city is to create environments that foster human flourishing while safeguarding communities against disaster.

Epting’s research and published works apply ancient philosophy to modern technology, focusing on topics like smart cities and a good life. He teaches and publishes on the ethical dimensions of sustainable cities and infrastructure, with particular attention to transportation and emerging technologies.

He has authored six books, including Meaning in the Metropolis: Toward an Urban Existentialism and Urban Enlightenment: Multistakeholder Engagement and the City, and has published widely in academic journals.

About Missouri S&T

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.