The comparative presentation of the birth of metropolises like St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Kiev, Belgrade, or Athens confirms the importance of the Western model as well as the influence of international experts on city planning at the periphery of Europe. In addition, this volume presents an alternative perspective that aims to understand the genesis of Eastern European cities with a metropolitan character or metropolitan aspirations as a process sui generis. The rapid expansion of metropolitan cities such as London and Paris began in the 17th and 18th centuries. Large parts of Central and Eastern Europe underwent urbanization and industrialization with considerable delay. Nevertheless beginning in the second half of the 19th century, the towns in the Romanov and Habsburg empires, as well as in the Balkans grew into cities and metropolitan areas. They changed at an astonishing pace. This transformation has long been interpreted as an attempt to overcome the economic and cultural backwardness of the region and to catch up to Western Europe.

Frankfurt/M., Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 1 Graf. Komparatistische Bibliothek / Comparative Studies Series. Bd. 11 Herausgegeben von / Edited by Jurgen Schriewer

Censorship and its counterpart, the 'underground' production and distribution of printed texts and images, existed ever since a 'public sphere' came into being. The volume approaches this phenomenon by covering cases from the Tsarist Empire, the Soviet Union, Central Europe, South America and China. In a long-term as well as global perspective, the well-known practise of samizdat under communist rule may be understood as part of a long tradition of underground publishing still relevant today in places like Russia, Iran, or China.