Herat, ancient and future metropolis of western Afghanistan The Florence team (Loda, Di Benedetto, Hinz, Preite, Tartaglia), along with a few professionals from Afghanistan, who achieved their master’s degree in Urban Analysis and Management at the University of Florence, accepted the challenge of accomplishing Herat strategic masterplan. Such accomplishment is not pursued imposing western patterns, but stemming from the reconnaissance of the original characters of an area, a population, a history, a way of development. There are two levels of choices: growth has been moulded to a region scale, by forecasting a system of satellite towns in the valley; the safeguard of landscape and history values has been granted by forecasting a system of rules on the urban scale. Summary: 1) Approach to Herat city-planning. 2) Metropolitan area choices: Greater Herat. 3) Controlled city evolution. 4) Strategic plan. Keywords: metropolitan cities, strategic plan, cultural interchange.