This volume introduces, through a series of freshly researched studies, new perspectives on the history of European urban culture from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. The approach is an international one, with essays on Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy, and the authors drawn not only from Europe, but also the USA and Japan. The essays examine a range of specialist aspects of culture, such as gardening, spa towns, painting, and music. At the same time the contributors also explore jointly several broader interconnected themes - health, nature, the arts and cultural institutions, leisure, and tourism - of central importance to the cultural identity and development of the modern European town.

Essays reevaluating and challenging the critiques of the urban studies field

This edited volume assembles the most up-to-date research on the design and construction of ancient cities in the wider Mediterranean, reappraising and shedding light on these 'lost' Classical plans.

Publisher Description

Critical Heritage Studies is a new and fast-growing interdisciplinary field of study seeking to explore power relations involved in the production and meaning-making of cultural heritage. Politics of Scale offers a global, multi- and interdisciplinary point of view to the scaled nature of heritage, and provides a theoretical discussion on scale as a social construct and a method in Critical Heritage Studies. The international contributors provide examples and debates from a range of diverse countries, discuss how heritage and scale interact in current processes of heritage meaning-making, and explore heritage-scale relationship as a domain of politics.

Taking on the key issues in urban design, Shaping the City examines the critical ideas that have driven these themes and debates through a study of particular cities at important periods in their development. As well as retaining crucial discussions about cities such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Brasilia at particular moments in their history that exemplified the problems and themes at hand like the mega-city, the post-colonial city and New Urbanism, in this new edition the editors have introduced new case studies critical to any study of contemporary urbanism – China, Dubai, Tijuana and the wider issues of informal cities in the Global South. The book serves as both a textbook for classes in urban design, planning and theory and is also attractive to the increasing interest in urbanism by scholars in other fields. Shaping the City provides an essential overview of the range and variety of urbanisms and urban issues that are critical to an understanding of contemporary urbanism.