Parcels reveals the hidden framework that shapes modern life: the land parcel. Though rarely noticed, parcels quietly organize where homes stand, how cities grow, how governments tax and regulate, and how rights and responsibilities are enforced. This book traces the parcel across scale--from a single home to neighborhoods, cities, nations, and the planet--showing how invisible boundaries become the operating system of civic life. Through global examples and a sustained case study of Detroit, Parcels demonstrates that challenges such as housing, taxation, infrastructure, and equity cannot be solved abstractly. They must be understood and addressed parcel by parcel. Blending history, geography, data, and design, Parcels introduces what's called "the geographic approach" and shows how parcels become insight, policy, and action. Clear, ambitious, and deeply grounded, Parcels invites readers to see land--and the world built on it--with new clarity. Jerry Paffendorf is an entrepreneur, land data innovator, and advocate for making property information more accessible and useful to the public. He is best known as the founder and CEO of Regrid, a company dedicated to assembling and standardizing parcel data across the United States. Nancy von Meyer is a nationally recognized leader in land information systems, geospatial policy, and property data standardization. She is the author of GIS and Land Records: The Parcel Data Model (Esri Press, 2004). She brings decades of experience at the intersection of government, technology, and land administration, helping to illuminate how parcel data underpins decision-making at every scale.