The main question put forward in this paper is whether it is possible to outline the main features expressing the idea of a metropolitan city in the late-modern Europe and to point out their relations with contemporary theories of urban planning. In order to identify and systematise “the common ideological indicators” of a contemporary European metropolis, the following criteria have been used: 1) universally recognised principles of urban development, 2) basic assessment criteria of the urban spatial structure and 3) the major modes of controlling urban development. The author has also attempted to systematise the major urban planning theories developed at the turn of the 20th and 21st century and the planning concepts corresponding to various models of spatial structure development that can be found in the new European metropolises. The observations have been illustrated with two examples of planning practice.

The main question put forward in this paper is whether it is possible to outline the main features expressing the idea of a metropolitan city in the late-modern Europe and to point out their relations with contemporary theories of urban planning. In order to identify and systematise “the common ideological indicators” of a contemporary European metropolis, the following criteria have been used: 1) universally recognised principles of urban development, 2) basic assessment criteria of the urban spatial structure and 3) the major modes of controlling urban development. The author has also attempted to systematise the major urban planning theories developed at the turn of the 20th and 21st century and the planning concepts corresponding to various models of spatial structure development that can be found in the new European metropolises. The observations have been illustrated with two examples of planning practice.