Races to modernity : metropolitan aspirations in Eastern Europe, 1890-1940 / edited by Jan C. Behrends and Martin Kohlrausch.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Behrends, Jan C., editor.

Kohlrausch, Martin, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cities and towns--Europe, Eastern--Growth--History--19th century.

Cities and towns.

Cities and towns--Europe, Eastern--Growth--History--20th century.

Social change--Europe, Eastern--History.

Social change.

City planning--Europe, Eastern--History.

City planning.

City and town life--Europe, Eastern--History.

City and town life.

Capitals (Cities)--Europe, Eastern--History.

Capitals (Cities).

Europe, Eastern--Social conditions--19th century.

Europe, Eastern.

Europe, Eastern--Social conditions--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Budapest, Hungary ; New York, New York : Central European University Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"The book asks how far the model of the European City can be applied to the cities of Eastern Europe which massively expanded from the second half of the 19th century on but often lacked some of the fundamentals of the European urbanity in the Weberian sense. The authors employ a broad focus and look at metropolitan cities between Helsinki and Athens, Warsaw and Moscow. The period under investigation begins with the 1890s when East European societies entered an 'age of great acceleration' and stops with the outbreak of World War II which not only destroyed but also socially and ethnically altered many metropolitan cities of Eastern Europe. While before the First World War most of Eastern Europe was subsumed in the Habsburg, Romanov, and Ottoman empires, new (nation-) states and socialist ideologies shaped post-1918 urban development. For the majority of the new capitals created by the post-war order the state remained the main proponent of change. Both, historical preconditions--the economic situation, the legacy of the empires--and the experience of the upheaval of 1917/18 contributed to this particularity of the region. On the other hand Western Europe and her urban experts continued to be and became even stronger points of reference. The volume discusses the peculiar relationship between state, city and the challenges of modernity in the Eastern Europe with a focus on urban planning in the wider sense of the word. In particular, the different chapters of the book ask how far--given the omnipresent, albeit often idealized example of Western metropolitan cities--a 'reflective modernization' may be identified as a common marker of cities in the region under observation"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1. Introduction

Races to modernity : metropolitan aspirations in Eastern Europe, 1890-1940 : an introduction / Jan C. Behrends, Martin Kohlrausch

2. The social and the national question in the Eastern metropolis

Modernity as mask : reality, appearance, and knowledge on the Petersburg street / Mark D. Steinberg

Modernist visions and mass politics in late imperial Kiev / Faith Hillis

Creating Polish Wilno, 1919-1939 / Theodore R. Weeks

Modern Moscow : Russia's metropolis and the state from Tsarism to Stalinism / Jan C. Behrends

3. Urbanism goes East : the development of capitals, infrastructure, and planning

Athens, 1890-1940 : transitory modernism and national realities / Eleni Bastea

Between rivalry, irrationality, and resistance : the modernization of Belgrade, 1890-1914 / Dubravka Stojanovic

Architectural praxis in Sofia : the changing perception of "Oriental" urbanity and "European" urbanism (1879-1940) / Elitza Stanoeva

Warszawa funkcjonalna : radical urbanism and the international discourse on planning in the interwar period / Martin Kohlrausch

4. Ostmoderne? East European modernism

Capital modernism in the Baltic Republics : Kaunas, as well as Tallinn and Riga / Steven A. Mansbach

Helsinki : shaping an imperial or national capital city? / Laura Kolbe

Modernizing Zagreb : the freedom of the periphery / Eve Blau.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-344) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-003-72157-5

963-386-036-9

9781003721574

OCLC:

889644653