Malcolm Gee

Tim Kirk

Jill Steward

The cities of central Europe, among them Berlin, Budapest, Hamburg, Vienna and Prague, went through a period of phenomenological growth during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Their rapid expansion and growing economic importance made their citizens aware of the need to manage the fabric and culture of the urban environment, while burgeoning nationalism and the development of local and international tourism constructed cities as showcases for national and regional identity. The essays in this volume focus on citizens' perceptions of their city and how that determined conservation and development. Competing visions of how city and nation should represent themselves were advanced by different social groups, by commercial interests and by local and national political authorities. The contributors explore the way in which various urban projects articulated a range of interests and allegiances, whether through architecture, the design of public places, the founding of educational and cultural institutions, or the rules governing the conduct of the inhabitants.

Culture and Society from 1800 to the Present

The City in Central Europe

Art Criticism Since 1900

This title was first published in 2002: Since the invention of printing in the mid-fifteenth century the production, distribution and consumption of printed matter have been the principal means through which new ideas and representations have been spread. In recent times cultural historians have taken a growing interest in the previously somewhat isolated field of book history, shifting the study of printing and publishing into the centre of historical concern. This study of print and printing culture has naturally led historians to a concern with its urban context. The urban environment was fundamental to the development of printing from the outset, since it was in towns that the necessary combination of technical and entrepreneurial competencies were located, and where a growing demand for printed texts was to be found. Print permeated the urban experience at every level, and formed the chief means by which its ideas, values and beliefs were exported to the rest of society. In this way print promoted the broader urbanisation of society, by spreading urban attitudes and ideas beyond the limits of the city. It is with the urban cultural environment that this volume is primarily concerned, underlining the centrality of printing and publishing to the understanding of urban culture. Focusing particularly on post 1800 France and Germany, it considers a wide range of printed matter and engages with a number of recurrent historical issues, such as the role of printing in urban economies, the construction of metropolitan identities and the testing of moral boundaries.

Malcolm Gee

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