Rosemary Wakeman's original survey text comprehensively explores modern European urban history from 1815 to the present day. It provides a journey to cities and towns across the continent, in search of the patterns of development that have shaped the urban landscape as indelibly European. The focus is on the built environment, the social and cultural transformations that mark the patterns of continuity and change, and the transition to modern urban society. Including over 60 images that serve to illuminate the analysis, the book examines whether there is a European city, and if so, what are its characteristics? Wakeman offers an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates concepts from cultural and postcolonial studies, as well as urban geography, and provides full coverage of urban society not only in western Europe, but also in eastern and southern Europe, using various cities and city types to inform the discussion. The book provides detailed coverage of the often-neglected urbanization post-1945 which allows us to more clearly understand the modernizing arc Europe has followed over the last two centuries.

Toulouse is one of the most striking examples of urban modernization both in France and in all of Europe. It exemplifies the unparalleled changes that transformed France into an urban nation after World War II. In "Modernizing the Provincial City," Rosemary Wakeman examines the ways in which urban landscape and architecture, culture, and economic life were altered by public modernization programs designed to build "the new France." Her study is unique in treating modernization not in the conventional sense of a fixed, abstract model superimposed over defenseless provincial cities, but rather as a matter of unpredictable change.

Modernism in France was a politically determined process enacted by the national government and by corporate interests. Yet it encountered historically articulated urban communities that acted as their own agents in the process of transformation. Wakeman's argument is that modern French cities were created from the rivalries and negotiations between a variety of competing interests in the struggle to define contemporary urban life.

This inquiry into the forces shaping modern French history also contributes to the discussion taking place among sociologists, geographers, urbanists, and historians about the modern condition, the capitalist economic system, and the complex matrix of modern urban life.

This collection explores the most important transformations and upheavals of post-1945 Europe in the light of recent scholarship. Twelve chapters consider key political, cultural and economic changes of an era that needs reevalutaion and reconsideration from a historical perspective.
Themes in Modern European History is structured around recent theoretical debates on the postwar. 1945 onwards saw unprecedented economic growth in the 'golden age' of prosperity up to 1973, and it witnessed a social flux that dramatically transformed the fabric of European society. After 1989, Europe grappled with the East European revolutions and faced the challenge of reintegrating the continent after 75 years of partition and conflict. At the beginning of the 21st century, the concept of 'European civilisation' remains ambiguous.

Contents:
1. Introduction Rosemary Wakeman 2. Divided Europe: The long postwar, 1945-1989 Steven Morewood 3. The collapse of world dominion: the dismantling of the European colonial empires and its impact on Europe Jean Jacques Jordi 4. The golden age of prosperity, 1953-1973 Rosemary Wakeman 5. Social class and social change in postwar Europe Don Kalb 6. Changing margins in postwar European politics Michael Hanagan 7. European mass culture in the media age 8. The boundaries of the avant-garde Simon Sadler 9. The Central and Eastern European revolution, 1989-2000 Ivan T. Berend 10. The politics of European unification Robert H. Lieshout 11. European economic integration: from business cycle to business cycle Wim Meeusen

The typical town springs up around a natural resource--a river, an ocean, an exceptionally deep harbor--or in proximity to a larger, already thriving town. Not so with "new towns," which are created by decree rather than out of necessity and are often intended to break from the tendencies of past development. New towns aren't a new thing--ancient Phoenicians named their colonies Qart Hadasht, or New City--but these utopian developments saw a resurgence in the twentieth century. In Practicing Utopia, Rosemary Wakeman gives us a sweeping view of the new town movement as a global phenomenon. From Tapiola in Finland to Islamabad in Pakistan, Cergy-Pontoise in France to Irvine in California, Wakeman unspools a masterly account of the golden age of new towns, exploring their utopian qualities and investigating what these towns can tell us about contemporary modernization and urban planning. She presents the new town movement as something truly global, defying a Cold War East-West dichotomy or the north-south polarization of rich and poor countries. Wherever these new towns were located, whatever their size, whether famous or forgotten, they shared a utopian lineage and conception that, in each case, reveals how residents and planners imagined their ideal urban future.

"The Heroic City" is a sparkling account of the fate of Paris's public spaces in the years following Nazi occupation and joyful liberation. Countering the traditional narrative that Paris's public landscape became sterile and dehumanized in the 1940s and '50s, Rosemary Wakeman instead finds that the city's streets overflowed with ritual, drama, and spectacle. With frequent strikes and protests, young people and students on parade, North Africans arriving in the capital of the French empire, and radio and television shows broadcast live from the streets, Paris continued to be vital terrain. Wakeman analyzes the public life of the city from a variety of perspectives. A reemergence of traditional customs led to the return of festivals, street dances, and fun fairs, while violent protests and political marches, the housing crisis, and the struggle over decolonization signaled the political realities of postwar France. The work of urban planners and architects, the output of filmmakers and intellectuals, and the day-to-day experiences of residents from all walks of life come together in this vibrant portrait of a flamboyant and transformative moment in the life of the City of Light.