The lands of East Central Europe experienced three major transformations: Christianisation and the formation of a new political framework in the tenth-eleventh centuries; the profound social and structural changes of the thirteenth century; and the emergence of early modern states in the seventeenth century. Each of these engendered distinct steps in urbanisation. Many steps of these developments followed similar (although usually earlier) processes in Western and North-Western Europe, but with certain limitations. The constitutional status of cities and towns in diets was more precarious. Certain forms of communal governance were lacking, such as the institutionalised participation of guilds in municipal government or the role of neighbourhoods as local units of social solidarity and self-defence. Quantitative estimates show a low-density urban network and small sizes of towns.

The topic of ‘consumption and entrepreneurship in the city’ needs an ‘intra-city’ approach, which concentrates on the changes in the urban environment and the mutual effects of city governance and business actors. The chapter thematises the past 150 years using three time periods and three cities: first presenting the main characteristics of the era and then connecting it with the history of the city and its entrepreneurship. The period before the First World War was the age of industrialisation and the spread of factory production; the relationship between city and business is presented via Budapest, a newly born national capital, and the steam-mill industry. The inter-war period was a short but economically diverse and turbulent era, which was permeated by the influence of politics. In the case of Łódź, which rapidly grew earlier thanks to its textile industry, this was the era when the effects of the industry in the city came under the control of the city government. Finally, after the Second World War came the age of consumer society, with de-industrialisation. Sheffield’s centuries-old industrial history was no longer enough security for the future, but thanks to the city administration and urban entrepreneurship, there was no question of decline.

Volume I offers a broad perspective on urban culture in the ancient European world. It begins with chronological overviews which paint in broad brushstrokes a picture that serves as a frame for the thematic chapters in the rest of the volume. Positioning ancient Europe within its wider context, it touches on Asia and Africa as regions that informed and were later influenced by urban development in Europe, with particular emphasis on the Mediterranean basin. Topics range from formal characteristics (including public space), water provision, waste disposal, urban maintenance, spaces for the dead, and border spaces; to ways of thinking about, visualising, and remembering cities in antiquity; to conflict within and between cities, economics, mobility and globalisation, intersectional urban experiences, slavery, political participation, and religion.

Volume I offers a broad perspective on urban culture in the ancient European world. It begins with chronological overviews which paint in broad brushstrokes a picture that serves as a frame for the thematic chapters in the rest of the volume. Positioning ancient Europe within its wider context, it touches on Asia and Africa as regions that informed and were later influenced by urban development in Europe, with particular emphasis on the Mediterranean basin. Topics range from formal characteristics (including public space), water provision, waste disposal, urban maintenance, spaces for the dead, and border spaces; to ways of thinking about, visualising, and remembering cities in antiquity; to conflict within and between cities, economics, mobility and globalisation, intersectional urban experiences, slavery, political participation, and religion.

Volume II charts European urbanism between 700 and 1850, the millennium during which Europe became the world’s most urbanised region. Featuring thirty-six chapters from leading scholars working on all the major linguistic areas of Europe, the volume offers a state-of-the-art survey that explores and explains this transformation, how similar or different such processes were across Europe, and how far it is possible to discern traits that characterise European urbanism in this period. The first half of the volume offers overviews on the urban history of Mediterranean Europe, Atlantic and North Sea Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and European urbanisms around the world. The second half explores major themes, from the conceptualisation of cities and their material fabric to continuities and changes in the social, political, economic, religious and cultural histories of cities and towns.

Volume I offers a broad perspective on urban culture in the ancient European world. It begins with chronological overviews which paint in broad brushstrokes a picture that serves as a frame for the thematic chapters in the rest of the volume. Positioning ancient Europe within its wider context, it touches on Asia and Africa as regions that informed and were later influenced by urban development in Europe, with particular emphasis on the Mediterranean basin. Topics range from formal characteristics (including public space), water provision, waste disposal, urban maintenance, spaces for the dead, and border spaces; to ways of thinking about, visualising, and remembering cities in antiquity; to conflict within and between cities, economics, mobility and globalisation, intersectional urban experiences, slavery, political participation, and religion.

Volume II charts European urbanism between 700 and 1850, the millennium during which Europe became the world’s most urbanised region. Featuring thirty-six chapters from leading scholars working on all the major linguistic areas of Europe, the volume offers a state-of-the-art survey that explores and explains this transformation, how similar or different such processes were across Europe, and how far it is possible to discern traits that characterise European urbanism in this period. The first half of the volume offers overviews on the urban history of Mediterranean Europe, Atlantic and North Sea Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and European urbanisms around the world. The second half explores major themes, from the conceptualisation of cities and their material fabric to continuities and changes in the social, political, economic, religious and cultural histories of cities and towns.

Volume II charts European urbanism between 700 and 1850, the millennium during which Europe became the world’s most urbanised region. Featuring thirty-six chapters from leading scholars working on all the major linguistic areas of Europe, the volume offers a state-of-the-art survey that explores and explains this transformation, how similar or different such processes were across Europe, and how far it is possible to discern traits that characterise European urbanism in this period. The first half of the volume offers overviews on the urban history of Mediterranean Europe, Atlantic and North Sea Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and European urbanisms around the world. The second half explores major themes, from the conceptualisation of cities and their material fabric to continuities and changes in the social, political, economic, religious and cultural histories of cities and towns.

The roster of industrial cities includes not only single-industry towns but also ports, capitals, suburban factory districts and regional clusters of manufacturing centres. Over time, technological changes turned all modern cities into industrialised cities. This chapter follows the spread of urban industrial production across Europe and into overseas empires and examines its impact on local environments. It then traces the planning efforts of state governments and architects to combat pollution and to redesign manufacturing towns. De-industrialisation in the second half of the twentieth century added unemployment and emigration to the challenges of industrial cities, which had to substitute new functions for manufacturing jobs. Multi-functional cities with well-educated workforces have found this transition easier than smaller, more specialised manufacturing towns.