Manifestoes and Transformations in the Early Modernist City

The enormous impact of industrialisation on the 19th Century European city created unprecedentedly fertile conditions both for the generation of ideal conceptions of the city and for large scale urban transformations. Within this context, the urban discourse of the latter half of the nineteenth century was characterised by a dialectic exchange between the realms of the ideal and the practical. This dialectic was played out in the large metropolitan areas which were the sites for the formation of modernity. While there has recently been a growing interest in utopian visions, resulting in the publication of many surveys as well as monographs on specific urban utopian proposals, there have so far been no books which deal with urban utopias and their relationship between actual urban interventions. Bringing together a carefully chosen, wide-ranging team of leading experts, "Manifestoes and Transformations" does this. It provides a broad, contextual exploration of the ideas and urban practices which are the foundations of our conception of the contemporary city, as well as examining the relations between urban ideals and their influence on urban praxis. As such, it is a valuable source for students interested in the formation of the modernist city.