A Modern History of European Cities: 1815 to the Present

Abstract

Provides a journey to cities and towns across the continent, in search of the patterns of development that have shaped the urban landscape as indelibly European. The focus is on the built environment, the social and cultural transformations that mark the patterns of continuity and change, and the transition to modern urban society. Wakeman offers an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates concepts from cultural and postcolonial studies, as well as urban geography, and provides full coverage of urban society not only in western Europe, but also in eastern and southern Europe, using various cities and city types to inform the discussion. The book provides detailed coverage of the often-neglected urbanization post-1945 which allows us to more clearly understand the modernizing arc Europe has followed over the last two centuries.

Table of contents

• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. The Grand Tour of Urban Europe (1815)
• Chapter 2. Travels through Industrial Landscapes
• Chapter 3. Entertainments and Romantic Dreamscapes (1815-1848)
• Chapter 4. Roaming the Markets
• Chapter 5. Urban Reform and the Planned City
• Chapter 6. Wandering City Streets
• Chapter 7. Sightseeing in the Big City (Fin-de-Siècle)
• Chapter 8. Electric Cities and Avant-Garde Itineraries (1920s-1930s)
• Chapter 9. Modernism and the City (1920s-1930s)
• Chapter 10. Searching through the Rubble (1939-1950s)
• Chapter 11. Car Trips through the City (1960s-1970s)
• Chapter 12. Crossing Urban Boundaries after the Berlin Wall
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Index