The Pre-Industrial Cities and Technology Reader

by Colin Chant (Editor)

The Pre-Industrial Cities Reader is designed to be used on its own or as a companion volume to the accompanying Pre-Industrial Open University textbook, in the same series. Compiled as a reference source for students, this reader is divided into three main sections, presenting key readings Ancient Cities, Medieval and Early Modern Cities, and Pre-Industrial Cities in China and Africa. Among the technologies discussed agricaultural innovations such as the heavy plough, water transport, the medieval road revolution, the first urban public transport, aqueducts, building materials such as brick and Roman concrete, weaponry and fortifications, water clocks, street lighting, and fire-fighting. Among the cities covered Uruk, Babylon, Thebes, Athens, Rome, Constantinople, Baghdad, Siena, Florence, Antwerp, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Mexico City, Hangzhou, Beijing and Hankou.

284 pages, Paperback

First published February 11, 1999