Brian Robson – författare

The last quarter of the nineteenth century was the most dramatic era in the social and spatial transformation of Stockholm. During this time large-scale manufacturing industry rose and eclipsed small-scale artisan sectors of production; the city's population virtually doubled and there was a rapid extension and rebuilding of the urban fabric. Allan Pred reconstructs this transformation of Stockholm's local economy, civil society and built environment between 1880 and 1900 through an interpretation of lost elements of language, or forgotten fragments of daily discourse, of lost words and meanings that belonged to members of the working and periodically employed classes. His analysis reveals that a language of production, distribution and consumption practices subsumed a language of discipline-avoidance and survival tactics. He demonstrates that the 'folk geography', or language used for negotiating the city streets and getting from here to there, subsumed a language of ideological resistance; that a language of social reference and address, the tagging of nicknames on groups and individuals, subsumed a language of boundary transgression; and that these languages were cross-cut by folk humour, by a vocabulary of comic irony and irreverence.

Postwar capitalist development has involved a transition from polarization toward diffuse urbanization and flexibility. The timing and form of this transition and its effects on spatial structures have varied, as is especially evident in the case of Mediterranean Europe. Focusing upon Greater Athens between 1948 and 1981 - the crucial period of the transition - Lila Leontidou explores the role of social classes in urban development. The emergence of new processes in cities such as Athens, Salonica, Rome, Naples, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon is different in both timing and manner from that of northern European cities, but, as Dr Leontidou argues, this should not be attributed to poverty or inexplicable cultural peculiarities. Instead interaction between popular spontaneity, economic forces and State control has played a major role.

The essential argument of this book is that the current crisis of US unions ought to be considered in terms of the local context of labor-management relations; that is, the communities in which men and women live and work. Whether by design or necessity, the structure of New Deal national labor legislation has sustained, and maintained, distinctive local labor-management practices. As the economies of American communities (and the world) have become highly interdependent, reflecting the evolution of corporate structure and trade between economies, unions movement can be traced to unions' dependence upon inter-community solidarity, a fragile democratic ideal which is often overwhelmed by economic imperatives operating at higher scales in other places. An important objective of Professor Clark in this work is to demonstrate the significance of the intersection between communities, unions, and institutions, in understanding the prospects for American unionism.

Postwar capitalist development has involved a transition from polarization toward diffuse urbanization and flexibility. The timing and form of this transition and its effects on spatial structures have varied, as is especially evident in the case of Mediterranean Europe. Focusing upon Greater Athens between 1948 and 1981 - the crucial period of the transition - Lila Leontidou explores the role of social classes in urban development. The emergence of new processes in cities such as Athens, Salonica, Rome, Naples, Milan, Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon is different in both timing and manner from that of northern European cities, but, as Dr Leontidou argues, this should not be attributed to poverty or inexplicable cultural peculiarities. Instead interaction between popular spontaneity, economic forces and State control has played a major role.

In this book James Duncan convincingly argues that landscapes are not only culturally produced, but that they also influence governing ideas of political and religious life. He analyzes this dialectic relationship between landscape and the pursuit of power in the royal capital of Kandy in the central highlands of Sri Lanka during the early years of the nineteenth century and demonstrates how the Kandyan landscape was consciously produced to further the perceived interests of the Kandyan kings. Using extensive archival sources, architectural analysis and mapping, the author reveals how the landscape was designed to foster a certain hegemonic reading that spoke of the power, benevolence and legitimacy of the kings in their capital.

This book, first published in 1987, addresses questions which have gained new importance in the light of the continuing erosion of the economic base and social stability of cities. The recurring riots in inner cities are but the outward manifestation of the profound collapse of the civic societies of our cities. This book addresses three main issues: What has gone wrong? What successes and failures have changes in policy had? And what should be the shape of future urban policy? This book will be interest to students of sociology, urban studies and human geography.

This book, first published in 1987, addresses questions which have gained new importance in the light of the continuing erosion of the economic base and social stability of cities. The recurring riots in inner cities are but the outward manifestation of the profound collapse of the civic societies of our cities. This book addresses three main issues: What has gone wrong? What successes and failures have changes in policy had? And what should be the shape of future urban policy? This book will be interest to students of sociology, urban studies and human geography.

Newcastle has a long and distinguished history through two millennia: a Roman fortress at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall; an important centre of monasticism; a 'royal' bulwark against attacks and invasion from Scotland; and the principal centre for the export of coal to London. In the 19th century it was transformed into an elegant Georgian townscape with dramatic streets and handsome public buildings. It and other towns on the Tyne - Gateshead, Jarrow, Wallsend, Tynemouth, North and South Shields - developed important industries: shipbuilding, glass and heavy engineering. Tyneside suffered severe contraction in the 20th  century as heavy industry declined, but it has begun to reinvent itself and create new growth shoots, not least its vibrant cultural industries including music and art.This book takes an innovative approach to telling the story of the area's history by focusing on the historic maps and plans that record the growth and development of Newcastle and Tyneside over many centuries.