The European cities and technology reader: industrial to post-industrial city

European cities and technology: industrial to post-industrial city:

The European cities and technology reader: industrial to post-industrial city:

Cities and Technology is a series of three textbooks and three linked readers exploring one of the most fundamental changes in the history of human society: the transition from predominantly rural to urban ways of living. The series presents a new social history of technology, using urban settings as a source of historical evidence and a focus for the interpretation of the historical relations of technology and society.

'European cities and technology' is a collection of original essays, designed to be used as a textbook on its own, or in conjunction with the 'European cities and technology reader'. It is divided into three sections: cities of the Industrial Revolution (to 1870); European cities since 1870; and Urban Technology Transfer. The first section looks at the onset of industrialisation and includes case studies of Manchester, Glasgow, London and Paris. The second section looks at the Second Industrial Revolution and the rise of modern urban planning, re-examining London and Paris, and also looking at a history of Berlin. In addition, this section looks at reconstruction, and features Milton Keynes as an example of the planning of a post-industrial city. The final section features cities in Russia and colonial India. The range of urban technologies examined covers new building materials (iron, steel, reinforced concrete), new building types (factories, warehouses, docks), improvements in public health, the dramatic effects of innovations in transport, town-planning and post-war reconstruction.

'The European cities and technology reader' is designed to be used on its own or as a companion volume to 'European cities and technology'. Under the same section headings, it features shorter articles from a wide range of authors which complement the subjects and cities featured in the textbook. It also includes a number of figures, tables, maps and photographs. The reader has been compiled as a reference source for students and offers a deeper understanding of the historical role of technological change in urban development.