Making the City

Cecile Sandten (Ed.)

Making the City: Transformative Processes in (Post)Industrial Urban Spaces

ISBN 978-3-98940-064-1, 236 S., 87 Abb., 7 Tab., kt., € 36,50 (2025)

(CHAT - Chemnitzer Anglistik/Amerikanistik Today, Bd. 12)

The Industrial Revolution, which began around 1770 in England, marked a period of profound cultural and economic change, especially for urban populations. By the mid-19th century, industrialisation had spread across Europe and North America, transforming cities such as Manchester, Łódź, Mulhouse, Tampere, or Pittsburgh into symbols of rapid development. While this era fostered hope and progress, it also brought challenges like long working hours and ecological shifts. The decline of key industries, such as steel, later created new difficulties for urban spaces navigating post-industrial realities. The edited volume Making the City: Transformative Processes in (Post)Industrial Urban Spaces builds on the conference held in June 2023 at Chemnitz University of Technology. The essays explore industrial heritage and its lasting effects on urban and rural spaces, addressing themes such as postcolonial perspectives, community ownership, or grassroots initiatives. These approaches contrast with investor-driven urban development and provide alternative models of “making the city.” Organised around two themes – “(post)industrialisation” and its representations – the volume highlights how the past continually informs the present. From preserving industrial heritage and adapting urban policies to reinterpreting city life in urban studies, literature, art, and music, the collection offers a multifaceted look at the processes that shape cities and their identities in the post-industrial era.

Cecile Sandten holds the Chair of English Literatures at Chemnitz University of Technology. She has published widely on theoretical approaches to the concept of palimpsestic spaces and literary experiences of urban space, with a special focus on postcolonial literatures (e.g. Canada, India, or South Africa).

Buchvorschau / Inhaltsverzeichnis (pdf)