Includes bibliographical references and index.

Toward a rebirth of civil society / David T. Beito, Peter Gordon, and Alexander Tabarrok -- Building the voluntary city. Laissez-faire urban planning / Stephen Davies. The private places of St. Louis : urban infrastructure through private planning / David T. Beito. The voluntary provision of public goods? : the turnpike companies of early America / Daniel Klein. Entrepreneurial city planning : Chicago's central manufacturing district / Robert C. Arne -- Law and social services in the voluntary city. Justice without government : the merchant courts of medieval Europe and their modern counterparts / Bruce L. Benson. The private provision of police during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries / Stephen Davies. "This enormous army" : the mutual-aid tradition of American fraternal societies before the twentieth century / David T. Beito. Medical care through mutual aid : the friendly societies of Great Britain / David G. Green. Education in the voluntary city / James Tooley -- The voluntary city and community. Proprietary communities and community associations / Fred E. Foldvary. Contractual governments in theory and practice / Donald J. Boudreaux and Randall G. Holcombe. Privatizing the neighborhood : a proposal to replace zoning with private collective property rights to existing neighborhoods / Robert H. Nelson. The case for land lease versus subdivision : homeowners' associations reconsidered / Spencer Heath MacCallum -- Epilogue. Market challenges and government failure : lessons from the voluntary city / Alexander Tabarrok.