The Role of Imperial and Local Authorities on the Construction of Ports of Smyrna and Thessaloniki (original) (raw)
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Urban identity of the City – The transformation of Cities at the Turn of Two Centuries
Post-socialist cities in Central and Eastern Europe, today, pass through the complex changes in the conditions of post-socialist transformation, Europeanization and globalization. A relatively neglected aspect of these changes is the creation of typical post-socialist identity of the considered European cities that suppose, through transformation, to achieve a wide range of objectives proclaimed along with the legitimacy of new political and economic policies. The goal is to create good enough places for integration into regional and global networks and flows. The tendency of the transformation of Eastern European cities, in general, is the "Europeanization" of urban identity and repression to elements and signs of "infamous" past, specifically socialistic. However, the question is where is the limit, and to what extent should cities break with its own, recent history. This paper analyses the gradual transformation of the city, from the socialist past to the present time, with attempt to identify the new urban identity in post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe. This process is researched as the case study city of Nis in Serbia. In a brief analysis of the historical development of Nis, it was marked a period of the largest urban growth. That was the socialistic period just after World War II, followed by creating a distinctive city identity as a socialistic city, the city of the "revolutionaries" and "workers". In the context of recent history (last decade of the twentieth century and the beginning of the XXI century), the paper further analyses the gradual transformation of the influences that occur during this period, from traditional-rural to postmodern. Although the transformation of the city is developing more slowly than social change, it still manages to keep pace with changes in society through their physical and spatial appearance, inevitably, retaining remnants and influences of previous periods. We conclude with the necessity of exploring the historical context in the formation of new "modern" urban identity by relying on our own past. History and tradition, the affinity of the mentality of a society that makes a city must be taken into account along with the goals that we want to achieve by forming a brand new picture" of the city – the new urban identity.
Domesticating modernity through city-building. New plans for the Balkan cities, 1900-1920
Social transformation and mass mobilisation. In the Balkan and Eastern Mediterranean cities, 1900-1923, 2013
The making of new or the remaking of existing cities and settlements according to 'international' -or western -principles appeared as a main priority for the governing elites in the emerging Balkan states in the nineteenth century. One cannot but be surprised by their hastiness and willingness to respond to the requirements of their newly rising urban populations, promote innovative spatial forms that broke with centuries of practice and use of urban space, and to proceed with great programmes that reshaped the urban fabric.
The term “imperial city” so far has been used in several different and often contradicting meanings and it still lacks a clear conceptualization. Notwithstanding the palpable significance of cities for all empires, there have been only a few attempts to shed light on the relationship between cities and empires. After outlining the theoretical research undertaken during the last decades on both “imperial” and “colonial cities”, this chapter argues that especially in the context of continental empires the alleged dichotomy of these two city types obscures more than it explains. It therefore suggests a new convention that understands the imperial city rather as a research perspective that can be applied to all cities that are shaped by the imperial character of the state or that contribute to the latter’s imperial form, regardless of their size and of their location. This chapter then turns more specifically to the empires of Eastern Europe and their cities. After a short characterization of these empires and their cities, it demonstrates how our proposed perspective can help unveil neglected aspects of the relationship between Eastern Europe’s empires and their cities.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE on CHANGING CITIES III
The main purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the relationship of the process of capital accumulation and economic growth, with that of urban development in Athens in the late 19 th century, a period marked by the clustering of national economy and investment capital and thus the assemblage of population masses. The continuous evolution of Athens as the financial centre of Greece encouraged the migrant movement from the periphery and abroad, resulting in a population increase of 88%. Departing from the case study of Athens, the discourse intends to develop an integrated methodological framework for understanding the different facets of capital flow to the city transformation that will be focused on: a) the intense urbanization of Athens, b) the emerging residential development to meet the housing needs of the migrant masses and c) the expansions of the city plan. City transformation was also closely linked to other transformations concerning socio-political structure and international economic conditions, such as that of the Long Depression of 1873-96. The paper provides an insight into the vital role of the state policies, measures and regulations and of the economic factors involved in the evolution and transformation of urban design adopted in the city developments.
1.1 The Emergence of the Regional City
Amsterdam Human Capital, 2003
The Core Theme: From City to Urban Region During its long history Amsterdam has developed into a city on a human scale, whose dynamism and vitality are due to the various colors of its inhabitants and those passing through. Given the make-up of its population and its cultural diversity it is more accurate to describe Amsterdam as an international center of "subculture" than a center of "distinction." Remarkably, the historic city center, which with its extensive system of canals is going to be nominated as one of the major inner-city "monuments of cultural heritage" on UNESCO's world list, has somehow never been turned into a museum. The city center remains the scene where a variety of activities jostle for position, and where a great deal of cultural and economic intercourse takes place alongside a striking amount of residential use. This latter feature in particular (just under 100,000 people live in the historic center, ranging from students and Bohemians to, of course, the affluent and the exclusive occupants of canal-side residences) guarantees the authenticity and innovative drive of the activities in this highly-frequented area. The old city center has avoided being taken over entirely by the people who pass through it, although they do of course leave their mark. The ratio of jobs to resident workforce in the center is about one to one, a unique phenomenon internationally. Usually far more of the urban core is set aside for businesses, offices and shops, but people actually live in Amsterdam's center. It goes without saying that these rough figures conceal a good deal of dynamics, but they do underscore the liveability of its center. The foundation for this unusual demographic pattern was in fact laid down during the Golden Age of the seventeenth century, when the commercial elite decided to set up shop in the heart of the city, thus giving the pattern of urban development a mixed residential and commercial character for a long time to come. On the European continent, this preference on the part of the bourgeois elite for living in inner cities was not uncommon-e.g. in thirteenth-century Italy (see Benevolo 1993); later on, in the middle of the nineteenth century, Haussmann's restructuring of Paris gave a fresh international impetus to making inner cities suitable inter alia for bourgeois living-but rarely did one find the ratio of workforce to jobs mentioned above. The contrary, on the other hand, is by no means exceptional internationally. The urban history of Britain and the United States provides striking examples of the historical tendency of the urban elites to turn their backs on the noise of the
Historical Social Research, 2022
In the pandemic context of 2020–2022, the question of urban centrality has been posed from new perspectives: closed shops, unrented office facilities, and urban finances on the edge of bankruptcy, particularly in smaller towns. The radical developments of e-commerce and working from home are often seen as a potential threat to the very basis of downtowns and historic city centres, which have for centuries been symbolized by attractive offices and retail shops. For the municipalities that supported the central urban retail infrastructures that have vitalized and valorised urban centres, this scenario is highly challenging. However, the possible (yet selective) decline of the commercial function of urban centres might also be viewed as a chance to redefine city centres: less commerce, more functional diversity, more housing and productive spaces, more green spaces, and more space for the community. At the European level, the new Leipzig Charta, signed in 2020, contributed a tentative definition of the principles of contemporary urbanist policies in this sense (Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung 2021) following an academic debate on the transformation of city centres (Van Lierop 2020). In Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, and Italy, at the level of both national policies and local municipalities, the debate is older than the pandemic and has been redefined by the changing context. In other geographical contexts, from Asia to North Africa and North America, urban debates on centrality and the definition of urbanity have been recently renewed. They are intimately connected, however, with the discussions of the previous decades. Hence the pertinence of an exploration of the methodologies of urban history Full PDF of the guest-edited journal issue here: https://hisdemab.hypotheses.org/files/2022/10/HSR-47-2022-2-Transforming-Cities\_compressed.pdf