359

EUROPEAN URBANIZATION

European Urbanization 1500-1800 by Jan de Vries, Associated Book Publishers, (U.K.) Ltd., North Way, Andover, Hampshire SP 10 5BE,U.K., 1984,398pp,price&14.95,lSBN 01-416-36290-7.

The study of urbanism and urbanization has made immense strides in the last decade with the theoretical and conceptual sharpening pro- vided by studies in urban political economy accompanied by major innovative and quan- titative studies made possible by information technology. The book under review is one of the latter, an impressive and important study which, with Timberlake’s ( 1985) recent col- lection, not only adds a great deal to our un- derstanding of urbanization and revises conventional wisdom but also provides an im- mensely valuable tool for comparative urban research.

The author, Professor of History and Eco- nomics at the University of California, Berke- ley, draws on a bibliography of some 600 primary and secondary sources to present a (primarily) demographic analysis of urbani- zation in Europe in the period under review, questioning in the process many of the as- sumptions which fill textbooks on the relation between “industrialization and urbanization”. His principal argument is that a complex inter- national urban system predated the era of in- dustrialization, and that this system was largely consolidated in the seventeenth century: in brief, the constr@ction of an urban system was a precondition, not a result of modern indus- trial growth. The proof for this lies in his study of changes in urban population in 379 west Eu- ropean cities with population of over 10 000, data which he analyses and presents in equally innovative manner: transition matrices, rank size distributions, “potential surface” map- ping and with a valuable appendix showing population growth in 10 000 plus European

cities at 50-year intervals for the 300 years examined.

The book consists of five parts and, apart from its main theses and conclusions, raises a number of interesting and important issues only some of which can be touched on in a short review. Part One sets up the problem of the city in early modern Europe rehearsing, in as pre- cise a manner as one could want, the basic questions; the second part, on the urban pop- ulation of Europe, is principally concerned with issues concerning the data and their interpre- tation. Part Three, on the properties of the ur- ban system, could well find itself listed on future courses in urban studies, especially the first few pages of succinct discussion on cities, systems and regions, not least because it is at this point that one wishes for more clarification.

De Vries makes the point that the city’s function in economic growth can only be understood in a regional context and, whilst recognizing that the nation state does not pro- vide the relevant unit of analysis, is not as forthcoming as he might be on what exactly is the nature of a particular space economy. The broad generalization, though qualified, is that Europe, though never a single polity, neverthe- less had “a real identity and a real unity. That unity was religious and cultural, but also eco- nomic” (p. 84). Both at this point and else- where he recognizes that the boundaries of Europe were extended to include the colonial cities of Europe as part of its urban system, demonstrating, in fact, that Dutch urban civi- lization was built on a colonial system that the British took over, then adding the “crucial dy- namic” of the Atlantic economy (p. 172 ). The question is whether, in the eighteenth century particularly, one can treat the European urban system as an autonomous unit. To take only Britain as an example: given the massive growth of capital and port cities such as Glas- gow, Liverpool and London which the author documents, it is clear that parts of North America, the Caribbean and India are equally,

if not more part of the British urban system than are particular cities in Europe (King, 1986 ). It is in this context that Massey’s ( I984 ) work on spatial divisions of labour. not lcast at the international level, needs to be in- corporated. And continuing from this. the prospect of Professor de Vries getting together with Chase-Dunn ( 1985) to map out the inte- gration of the European urban system with the world urban s>stern between I750 and 1980 presents an exciting and challenging opportunit!,.

In the last two parts, on the dynamics of ur- ban growth and conclusions. the author raises further challenges to accepted notions of in- dustrial urbanization and class formation: the idoa that proletarization was principally rural not urban. that a rural proletariat moved into the tolvns and that the accepted chronology and processes of these developments need revi- sion. There are man!’ other revisionary views 11~ regard to migration. In all. this is a very slimulating. informative and valuable book \vhich uill have importance for a wide range ot readers in comparative urban research. urban sociology. geography and history and, if they cart to read it. for practitioners in urban policy and planning. For whilst Professor de Vries is characteristically modest as a historian of ur- banization. drawing few “lessons for the fu- ture”. there seem to bc clear indications here that commercial and industrial functions car- ried out in inland cities are most \.ulnerable, in the long term. to altered circumstances. Re- ginnallq dominant cities. on the other hand. ha\.c tended to hold their own through thick and thin. Ma!,be this is a guide to the alloca- tion of scarce resources.

KEFEKENCES

C‘hnwLX~nn. C’.. 1985. The system of\\orld cities. AI> X00-

1975. In: M.Z. Timherlake (EdItor). UrbaniLatlon In the

World Economy. Academic Press. New York. pp. 26%7Y1-.

King, X.D.. 1986. Margins. pcripherles and divisions of la-

bour: UK urbanlsm and the world economy. In: 11. Hard)

(Editor), On the Margins: Marginal Space and Marginal

Economies. Middlcscx Polytechnic. Cieographic and

Planning Papers, No. 17. pp. 16-14.

Masse>. 0.. IY84. Spatial Divisions of Labour. Macmillan.

London.

Timbrrlake. M. (Editor ). I Y85. Urbanlration In the World

tconom). Academic Press. NW York.

PRICES

Sporl ‘.s Latdst~~p~~ urd E.utwul Ct iA3 Priw

Boon? by Derek Lovejoy and Partners and Davis. Beltield and Everest (Editors). E. & F. Spon. London. 1987. 21.5 pp, price (hardcover) f27.50. ISBN O-4 19-I 4 130-8.

Rather like nursery catalogues and street di- rectories, price books are essentially cphem- eral. But look at them with an historian’s eye and they offer material of a permanent value as a record of a culture’s interests. In the 1970s landscape architecture in Britain had gradu- ated to the point at which it merited its own price book which lists the interests of land- scape professionals. These range from cricket squares to polo grounds (but not to baseball )

and triprails to clothes posts. There is thesis material in all this.

This is an annual publication and includes labour and material costs. Nearly everything the British landscape professional could re- quire (though the increasing number of Amer- ican firms doing work in Britain will wonder at the absence of semi-mature tree prices). There is also a free. three monthly update serv- ice for the year following the book’s publica- tion in August.

The book also lists recent British legislation affecting the landscape, includes extracts from some recent British Standards and has a brief directory of manufacturers and suppliers. The (British) Landscape Institute’s C’ondiliom (!I

Lty+igcwlent untl Prc~f&.sionul C’Iicir,yes also in- cluded have since been withdrawn.

This publication is invaluable for British