Overview

Britain was the first country in the world to become an essentially urban county. And England is still one of the most urbanized countries in the world. The town and the city is the world that most of us inhabit and know best. But what do we actually know about our urban world - and how it was created? The Making of the English Urban Landscape tells the story of our towns and cities and how they came into being over the last two millennia, from Roman and Anglo-Saxon times, through the Norman Conquest and the later Middle Ages to the 'great rebuilding' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the 'polite townscapes' of the eighteenth, and the commercial and industrial towns and cities of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The final chapter then takes the story from the end of the Second World War to the present, from the New Towns of the immediate post-war era to the trendy converted warehouses of Shoreditch. This is a book that will make the world you live in come alive. If you are a town or a city-dweller, you are unlikely ever to look at the everyday world around you in quite the same way again.

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9780198792635

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Reviews

The fruit of a lifetime's study, Geoffrey Tyack's new book offers an expert survey of Britain's urban history from the Romans to the present day. A brilliant example of learning worn lightly, it takes the reader on a fascinating tour of towns across the country. The Making of Our Urban Landscape is entertaining and enlightening in equal measure. It's important, too, as we confront difficult decisions about our urban future. * William Whyte, Professor of Social and Architectural History, St John's College, Oxford. *

Geoffrey Tyack has produced a rich and exhaustive almanac that shows just how - and often why - our urban landscape has evolved over time... The Making of Our Urban Landscape is a triumph. In its lavish detail and encyclopedic scholarship, it is a modern Baedeker for the whole of urban Britain, drawing us to explore this rich urban heritage for ourselves. * Jerry White, Literary Review * What a book this is: a survey of the evolution of Britains towns and cities by the great architectural historian, Geoffrey Tyack. It embraces geography, industry, religion, natural resources, royal patron-age, water supply, politics... Everything is here... * Clive Aslet, Country Life * A brave attempt to encapsulate the idea of Britain's urban history within one modestly sized volume. * James Stevens Curl, The Critic * fascinating... packed with information * Sandra Callard, On: Yorkshire Magazine * With such a huge sweep its a god-send that the author shares William Blakes view that art and science cannot exist but in minutely organised particulars. Hes big on details but doesnt lose sight of the generals; and in this volume there are copious photographs to bring prose to life. * Richard Lofthouse, QUAD * Tyacks book...tells a story at once sweeping in scope and nuanced in texture...Building upon a lifetimes study, Professor Tyack has done an invaluable service. He has winnowed from adjacent historical disciplines (demographic, architectural, economic and local) and gathered them into one narrative... If you want to hear the ghosts whispers as you walk round Britains streets and squares, this excellent book is a good place to start. * Nicholas Boys Smith, Catholic Herald * A remarkable new book...Geoffrey Tyack deftly moves through two millennia of Great Britains towns and cities with an impeccable depth and breadth of knowledge... The book does admirably in examining the exigencies and contingencies that have determined the contours of our urbanismThe greatest strength of Tyacks book is that he understands the vital role played by architecture in shaping and reflecting our society and uses his considerable powers to ponder on the deep history of both. * Matthew Lloyd Roberts, Engelsberg Ideas * The fruit of a lifetime's study, Geoffrey Tyack's new book offers an expert survey of Britain's urban history from the Romans to the present day. A brilliant example of learning worn lightly, it takes the reader on a fascinating tour of towns across the country. The Making of Our Urban Landscape is entertaining and enlightening in equal measure. It's important, too, as we confront difficult decisions about our urban future. * William Whyte, Professor of Social and Architectural History, St John's College, Oxford. * this will appeal to the general reader whose interest in local history will be greatly enriched... admirable and makes urban and landscape history joyously accessible. * Ann-Marie Akehurst, Urban History * a valuable contribution in the field of urban history, not least because of its broad geographical and temporal coverage. * Geoff Timmins, The Local Historian *

Author Information

Geoffrey Tyack is the former Director of the Stanford University Programme in Oxford and a Fellow of Kellogg College. He is President of the Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society and a Trustee of the Oxford Preservation Trust, a council member of the London Topographical Society, and Editor of the Georgian Group Journal. He is the author of numerous articles and books on architectural history, including Oxford: An Architectural Guide (OUP, 1998), and is co-editor of the revised volume on Berkshire in the Pevsner Buildings of England series (Yale, 2010).

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