Colin Chant is a lecturer in History of Science and Technology and David Goodman is Head of the Department of History of Science and Technology, both at the Open University.

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• Introduction Part 1: Ancient Cities 1. The Near East 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The emergence of cities: a technological revolution? 1.3 The emergence of cities: a social revolution? 1.4 Technology and city-building in Mesopotamia 1.5 Egypt: a civilization without cities? 1.6 Conclusion Extracts References 2. Greece 2.1 Urbanization in the Aegean region 2.2 Greece 2.3 Greek urban planning and morphology 2.4 Greek technologies and city-building 2.5 Athens 2.6 Conclusion Extract References 3. Rome 3.1 The pattern of Roman urbanization 3.2 Roman urban planning and morphology 3.3 Technology and Roman city-building 3.4 Rome: building the metropolis 3.5 Conclusion References Part 2: Medieval and Early Modern Cities 4. Medieval cities 4.1 The barbarian invasions and the fate of cities 4.2 Cities of Islam 4.3 Urban revival of the Latin West 4.4 The urban stimulus to medieval technology 4.5 Town and country Extract References 5. Renaissance cities 5.1 Clarifying the period 5.2 Building technology in Renaissance Florence 5.3 Geometrical cities, imaginary and real 5.4 Rome, the eternal city References 6. The Early Modern city 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Technological innovation, the built environment and the Early Modern city 6.3 Three case-studies: Amsterdam, Paris and London 6.4 Conclusions Extracts References 7. Cities of the New World 7.1 Cities of the New World 7.2 Pre-Columbian cities 7.3 Hispano-American cities Extract References Part 3: Pre-industrial Cities in China and Africa 8. Five Chinese cities before 1840 8.1 Preliminary note 8.2 Introduction: different kinds of city 8.3 Changan: an administrative city 8.4 Kaifeng: an industrial centre as capital 8.5 Hangzhou and the canal cities, c.1130-1280 8.6 Perspectives on an age of conflict, 1250-1368 8.7 Beijing brickwork and cosmology, 1368-1644 8.8 Conflict, commerce and natural resources 8.9 Hankou-Beijing comparisons, 1750-1840 8.10 The role of industry 8.11 Conclusion References 9. The city in pre-colonial Africa 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Environmental constraints 9.3 Building materials 9.4 The cities of sub-Saharan Africa 9.5 Conclusion References Conclusion: the Sjoberg model Index Acknowledgements