The novel “The Squares of the City” by John Brunner was published for the first time in 1965.

Boyd Haklyut went to Ciudad de Vados, the capital city of a South American nation, where he was hired as an expert in urban planning. The city has seen considerable growth over the years and this made it chaotic. Haklyut was instructed to find the necessary solutions to improve the flux of city traffic.

When Haklyut arrives in Ciudad de Vados, he realizes that there are many more problems than he expected. He knew he would find a nation not exactly democratic but didn’t think he’d end up in the middle of a power struggle. Doing his job becomes more and more difficult as the contenders face off move after move.