ABSTRACT
This volume explores the relationship between cities and railways over three centuries. Despite their nearly 200-year existence, The City and the Railway in the World shows that urban railways are still politically and historically important to the modern world.
Since its inception, cities have played a significant role in the railway system; cities were among the main reasons for building such efficient but lavish and costly modes of transport for persons, goods, and information. They also influenced the technological appearance of railways as these have had to meet particular demands for transport in urban areas. In 25 essays, this volume demonstrates that the relationship between the city and the railway is one of the most publicly debated themes in the context of daily lives in growing urban settings, as well as in the second urbanisation of the global South with migration from rural to urban landscapes. The volume’s broad geographical range includes discussions of railway networks, railway stations, and urban rails in countries such as India, Japan, England, Belgium, Romania, Nigeria, the USA, and Mexico.
The City and the Railway in the World will be a useful tool for scholars interested in the history of transport, travel, and urban change.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|113 pages
Some General Assumptions on the Topic
part II|48 pages
Cities in a Wider Context: The Role of National and Continental Railway Networks in the Development of Cities
chapter 2|10 pages
Tracks Laid in Muddy Streets
chapter 5|14 pages
Bombay and its Hinterland(s)
part III|102 pages
The Railway station: New Entrance to the City and Its Multiple Meanings
chapter 8|13 pages
Putting a Station in Its Place
chapter 9|15 pages
‘Capital Politics’ through Railways
part IV|132 pages
Urban Rails and How They Affected, and Still Affect, the City
chapter 14|19 pages
The Unfinished Dream of ‘Workplace and Dwelling Proximity’
chapter 15|15 pages
Creation of the Railway Culture through Marketing and Consumption
chapter 21|13 pages
The Experience and Image of American Elevated Railways
part V|70 pages
Railways in Troubled Waters and Their Return at the End of the Twentieth Century