Full Description
First published in 1999, this volume explores how the cities of central Europe, among them Berlin, Budapest, Hamburg, Vienna and Prague, went through a period of phenomenal growth during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their rapid expansion and growing economic importance made citizens aware of the need to manage the fabric and culture of the urban environment, while burgeoning nationalism and the development of local and international tourism constructed cities as showcases for national and regional identity. Competing visions of how city and nation should represent themselves were advanced by different social groups, by commercial interests and by local and national political authorities. Among the developments examined in this collection of essays are the campaign for the architectural development of Hamburg; international modernism and notions of the garden city in Czechoslovakia; competition among German cities as art centres; the role of Wawel Hill in Kraków as a vehicle for Polish nationalism; tourism in Austria-Hungary; Jewish assimilation in Vienna; social control and cultural policy in Vienna; and the representation of Berlin on film.
The volume is introduced by Malcolm Gee, Tim Kirk and Jill Steward who provide an historical overview which establishes a context for the exchange of ideas and competition between the cities of central Europe during this period.
Contents
1. A City in Distress?: Paul Bröcker and the New Architecture of Hamburg, 1900-1918. Matthew Jeffires. 2. From the Garden to the Factory: Urban Visions in Czechoslovakia Between the Wars. Jane Pavitt. 3. Networks and Boundries: German Art Centres and Their Satellites, 1815-1914. Robin Lenman. 4. The Berlin Art World, 1918-1933. Malcolm Gee. 5. Cultural Institutions as Urban Innovations: the Czech Lands, Poland and the Eastern Baltic, 1750-1900. Lud'a Klusáková. 6. Castles, Cabarets and Cartoons: Claims on Polishness in Kraków around 1905. David Crowley. 7. 'Gruss aus Wien': Urban Tourism in Austria-Hungary before the First World War. Jill Steward. 8. Big-City Jews: Jewish Big City - the Dialectics of Jewish Assimilation in Vienna c. 1900. Steven Beller. 9. Popular Culture and Politics in Imperial Vienna. Tim Kirk. 10. 'Making a Living from Disgrace': the Politics of Prostitution, Female Proverty and Urban Gender Codes in Budapest and Vienna, 1860-1920. Susan Zimmermann. 11. Coping with Social and Economic Crisis: the Viennese Experience, 1929-1933. Gerhard Melinz. 12. Walter Ruttmann's Berlin: Symphony of a City: Traffic-Mindedness and the City in Interwarr Germany. Anthony McElligott. 13. Wim Wenders and Berlin. Sabine Jaccaud.
