Cities in Modernity: Representations and Productions of Metropolitan Space, 1840-1930 (Cambridge Studies in Historical Geography, Series Number 40)

New
Illustrated
2008
$39.09

What made cities 'modern' in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Cities in Modernity explores connections between culture, economy and built environment in cities of this period, drawing its evidence principally from London, New York and Toronto. The book discusses both the cultural experience of modernity and the material modernization of cities, placing special emphasis on their historical geographies, on the production, representation and use of urban space. The opening chapters present new ways of seeing cities in political and religious discourse, social survey, mapping, art and literature. The book then concentrates on new kinds of public and private spaces, such as apartment buildings, office blocks and department stores, and the networks of communication between them. An important theme throughout is the gendered experience of the new types of environment. The book will appeal to scholars and students of historical geography, urban history and cultural studies.

Synopsis

What made cities 'modern' in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Cities in Modernity explores connections between culture, economy and built environment in cities of this period, drawing its evidence principally from London, New York and Toronto. The book discusses both the cultural experience of modernity and the material modernization of cities, placing special emphasis on their historical geographies, on the production, representation and use of urban space. The opening chapters present new ways of seeing cities in political and religious discourse, social survey, mapping, art and literature. The book then concentrates on new kinds of public and private spaces, such as apartment buildings, office blocks and department stores, and the networks of communication between them. An important theme throughout is the gendered experience of the new types of environment. The book will appeal to scholars and students of historical geography, urban history and cultural studies.

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 456
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 03 Jul 2008
ISBN 10: 0521468418
ISBN 13: 9780521468411
Book Overview: This book explores what made cities 'modern' in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Media Reviews

'... a very erudite and incisive piece of work, which draws strength from the rich and diverse research that informs it. It expertly negotiates and synthesizes work within architectural history, geography, building, cultural and feminist studies, sociology, business, and finance, creating an accessible, engaging, and informative work, of interest to a broad spectrum of scholars, researchers, and students.' H-HistGeog
'With its subtle argumentation and rich use of sources, Cities in Modernity is sure to be of interest to students and specialists of urban history, geography, and culture, and will undoubtedly become an essential reference for those interested in the tensions and contradictions that make urban modernity so pervasive an object of inquiry.' Nicolas Kenny, H-Urban
'By using the lives of characters from well-known novels, Dennis is able to contextualize his study with the experience of urban life across ninety years. This is an impressive addition to works on the nature of urban communities, and useful for historians of the city.' Urban History
'Dennis' important book is a bridge that allows urban scholars segregated by academic disciplines to journey to new destinations.' Reviews in History
'The book is brimming with insights and connections drawn across time and space ... This book truly melds technology and culture. It deserves the attention of all scholars interested in how the modern city came to be ... Cities in Modernity provides both a critical model and a prime example of the essentially interrelated nature of both aspects of the modern city.' Project Muse
'Dozens of illustrations from the period help bring the relatively distant era alive for the reader, and the voluminous footnotes both attest to Dennis's detailed research and, frequently, offer additional insights.' American Society of Civil Engineers
' ... the range of this book creates the possibility for such debates over the fences which separate our proliferating disciplinary specialisms. Dennis's work will instruct and provoke in equal measure, and is set to become a key reference for students of modern urban history in Britain and North America.' American Historical Review
' ... leans upon concepts embedded in studies of urban form and has much to offer readers interested in the cultural manufacture of urban space. Expertly researched and drawing on a variety of source materials, there is much for scholars of urban and cultural studies, geography, and history to take from this book. Dennis should be congratulated for composing a clear and lively account of spatial production, consumption and improvement.' Urban Morphology
It is a synthetic work that will seem familiar and yet still fascinating to scholars of the nineteenth-century city. The book is built upon the work of several decades of historians, geographers, literary critics and art historians who have explored diverse aspects of metropolitan modernity ... Dennis does not stray too far afield from the principal avenues of bourgeois London and its environs. he does, however, consider how class, gender and, to a lesser extent, race shaped the architecture and representation of the metropolis.' The London Journal
'... an ambitious work in the way it offers a highly nuanced reading of the complexities of modernist urban geographies ... That Cities in Modernity attends to both the modernist and realist artistic traditions is pleasing for it rearticulates the continuities, and not just the changes, of the period.' H-Net Reviews
'Richard Dennis's book addresses the modern city through the eyes of fictional urbanites, in various novels of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries ... The book contains an interesting discussion of the human-scale experience of technology ... This is an impressive additiion to works on the nature of urban communities, and useful for historians of the city.' Urban History
'Cities in Modernity constitutes not only a much welcomed addition to a body of literature whose growth has been less vigorous than other geographic subdisciplines ... [the book] is valuable, necessary, and probablyu canonical' I've already assigned it to my students. Phillip Gordon Mackintosh, Journal of Historical Geography
'As it stands, the book is remarkable for its breadth as well as depth. it will attract a wide readership, especially from those interested in geography, urban history, cultural, leisre and urban studies.' Planning Perspectives
'Cities in Modernity remains a formidable accomplishment; it should encourage further efforts to position Canadian urban development within a global historical context.' The Canadian Historical Review
'... the book is remarkable ... for its breadth as well as depth, and it should attract a wide readership, especially from geography, urban history, cultural, leisure and urban studies.' British Journal of Canadian Studies
a very erudite and incisive piece of work, which draws strength from the rich and diverse research that informs it. It expertly negotiates and synthesizes work within architectural history, geography, building, cultural and feminist studies, sociology, business, and finance, creating an accessible, engaging, and informative work, of interest to a broad spectrum of scholars, researchers, and students. -Angharad Saunders, H-HistGeog
Geographer Dennis...provides a nuanced and thought-provoking overview that charts crucial social and cultural transformations in modern urban space. Recommended. -Choice
...a wide-ranging and impressive synthesis... -Roger D. Simon, Techonology and Culture
Dennis's work will instruct and provoke in equal measure, and is set to become a key reference for students of modern urban history in Britain and North America. -Felix Driver, American Historical Review
With its subtle argumentation and rich use of sources, Cities in Modernity is sure to be of interest to students and specialists of urban history, geography, and culture, and will undoubtedly become an essential reference for those interested in the tensions and contradictions that make urban modernity so pervasive an object of inquiry. -Nicolas Kenny, H-Urban

Author Bio

Richard Dennis is Reader in the Department of Geography, UCL. He is associate editor of the Journal of Urban History and the author of English Industrial Cities of the Nineteenth Century: A Social Geography (1984).