The Epilogue picks up the story that this book begins with, the story of the demolition of the last symbol of Ottoman Sofia’s water culture, the city’s main thermal bath, elaborating on the construction of the modern Bath Square as a showcase of the young Bulgarian nation’s resolve to join the modern world. I argue that the making and imposition of national space in the post-Ottoman period led to the creation of an entirely new place in Sofia’s historic center by the beginning of the 1910s. The modernization of the street network replaced the old naming system that reflected the streets’ natural and social environments with a new one that employed the already large arsenal of national heroes and events. The efforts of urban planners and architects to create Sofia’s image of a capital city of a modern nation-state converged in the project for the construction of Bath Square whose key features would be monumentality and representativeness. The new buildings represented not the environmental characteristics of place but the success of the nation-state and the steadfast pursuit of modernity.

This chapter explores the ways in which the Sofia plain’s hydrothermal wealth influenced the local human communities and their relationship with the natural and built environments. How did the abundance of thermal water impact the daily routine of life on the plain? How did the ubiquitous presence of springs shape the locals’ perceptions of settled and wild space? In a city whose center was designated by a hot spring and occupied by bathing facilities, to what extent did participation in the rituals and practices rooted in the use of thermal water lead to the formation of a sense of place? What was the place of thermal waters and public baths in Ottoman and foreign observers’ perceptions of Sofia’s urban form and space? Taking issue with the confused, stereotyped, and biased popular idea of Ottoman Sofia’s built space, this chapter attempts to localize the bathing facilities in the city’s historic center and at least partially reconstruct the area of the thermal spring. The chapter sheds light on the roles that Sofia’s baths played as pillars of urban culture, key constituent parts of the image of the city, and important anchors for the achievement of a sense of place.

1. Reflect upon how the conditions for social workers engaged in mental health work can improve in a Zimbabwean context. What do you think must be the first step? 2. What are the benefits of multidisciplinary work within a mental health environment? 3. How can traditional approaches function together with Western approaches to mental health care treatment in Zimbabwe? 4. How can stories be a way of improving mental health challenges among people suffering from mental distress?

1. In this story the researchers understand mattering as a core value in social work. How can mattering be practised and expressed in social work research? 2. What issues of feeling valued and giving value arise from this story? 3. How could the stories of the participants be presented to social work students in an educational setting?

This chapter outlines the reasons why a linguistically oriented book-length analysis of memes is a necessary step. It also previews the main theoretical tools to be used and highlights the ways in which this book differs from other books on memes. It includes a preview of the remaining chapters of the book.

Chapter 3 explores the origins of German housing programs in the post-WWII period, arguing that these programs reinforced the country's export-oriented economy and contributed to its economic miracle. Facing severe housing shortages after WWII, German policymakers adopted extensive housing programs, including tax subsidies and social housing programs for both rental housing and homeownership, savings subsidies, and rent controls. These programs aimed to establish low-cost housing for workers and the middle class, which improved industrial productivity by alleviating labor shortages in industrial centers and limiting wage demands and inflation detrimental to export-oriented growth. Unlike American housing programs focused on boosting domestic demand, German supply-side initiatives were designed to overcome the immediate post-WWII housing crisis and support the country's manufacturing sector. These efforts thus made housing programs a pivotal element in Germany's coordinated, export-oriented postwar economy.