Exemplars of the Historical City

The course gives an overview of the process of development of the European city, from late antiquity to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, concentrating on those radical breaks with tradition caused by wars, earthquakes or fires, which have been crucial watersheds in the construction of the city. We propose therefore to read the history of the European city as two overlapping histories, one characterized by continuity and the other by discontinuities, and with both in constant competition. The course will also explore the issues of urban growth and decline, the changing social stratification and the ideological arguments that form the framework for these developments. Part of the course is devoted to the post-classical city in literature and theory from the Renaissance to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. On completion of the work in the lecture hall, a field trip is planned to a European capital.