{"product_id":"the-city-in-the-city-isbn-9780262048415","title":"The City in the City","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn exploration of the dramatic transformation of London’s financial district after 1945, viewed at four spatial scales: city, street, facade, interior.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe City in the City\u003c\/i\u003e, Amy Thomas offers the first in-depth architectural and urban history of London’s financial district, the City of London, from the period of rebuilding after World War II to the explosive climax of financial deregulation in the 1980s and its long aftermath. Thomas examines abstract financial ideas, political ideology, and invisible markets as concrete realities; working on four spatial scales—city, street, facade, and interior—the book explores the grand plans, hidden alleys, neo-Georgian elevations, and sweaty dealing floors that have made the financial center work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMoving from politics to sociology, institutions to bodies, development plans to office desks, Thomas unravels the rich entanglements between the structure of the UK’s financial system and the structure of the environment in which it operates. Despite its physical and political centrality, this period of the City’s architectural history occupies an academic lacuna. Longstanding prejudices about developer-led architecture and the real estate industry have obscured the postwar City’s relevance. The book shows how, as currents of local government reform, nation-building, and globalization swept across Britain, the City became an ideological battleground for debates between politicians and financial institutions, real estate developers and architects, preservationists and so-called “proactive” planners throughout the latter half of the century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe City of London is a place steeped in rich cultural and architectural heritage of immense national significance, yet it is also a highly privileged citadel at the core of global financial networks. \u003ci\u003eThe City in the City\u003c\/i\u003e is both a critique and a celebration of this unique and complex place.Prologue xxi\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1 \u003ci\u003eCity \u003c\/i\u003e1\u003cbr\u003eVested Interests 3\u003cbr\u003eA Few Houses and a Few Personalities 21\u003cbr\u003eThe Corporation's Two Faces 31\u003cbr\u003eProactive Planners 52\u003cbr\u003eA City, Aligned 69\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2 \u003ci\u003eStreet\u003c\/i\u003e 77\u003cbr\u003eThe Architecture of the Short View 79\u003cbr\u003eKnowledge in a Hurry 107\u003cbr\u003ePsychic Profits 122\u003cbr\u003eUnderground Citadels 138\u003cbr\u003eConcrete Realities 149\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3 \u003ci\u003eFacade\u003c\/i\u003e 153\u003cbr\u003eA Question of Confidence 155\u003cbr\u003eExpert Packaging 176\u003cbr\u003eLayers of Longevity 196\u003cbr\u003ePerformance, Reviewed 212\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e4 \u003ci\u003eInterior \u003c\/i\u003e215\u003cbr\u003eIn the Roar of the Jungle 217\u003cbr\u003eMicrocosms of Meritocracy 236\u003cbr\u003eThe Coffeehouse Feeling 247\u003cbr\u003eDefying Mahogany Gravity 268\u003cbr\u003eEmpty Desks 296\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEpilogue 299\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments 313\u003cbr\u003eNotes 315\u003cbr\u003eIndex 341“Architectural historian Amy Thomas covers every inch of the Square Mile in a study that ranges from macro urban planning, through the street \u0026amp; alleys, right down to the detail of desks designed to facilitate the changing needs of workplace interiors. Throughout, Thomas’ rich \u0026amp; clever use of archive images propels the research.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Recessed Space\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Thomas presents a wealth of noteworthy detail, ranging from the urban, form-shaping requirement that the head office of all members of The Bankers Clearing House be within a five-minute walk, to the efforts that went into balancing tradition and evolving technologies when redesigning the underwriters’ boxes (the café booth–like tables at which underwriters worked). A valuable resource for advanced students in history, planning, real estate, finance, urban design, architecture, and public administration.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Choice\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eThe City in the City\u003c\/i\u003e] is seriously smart and forces the reader to engage with the sorts of architecture and design that less enterprising and original writers have tended to pass over in silence—or worse. It is by no means an attempt to defend the City's architecture; indeed, it is highly critical of much of what was done. It does, however, encourage us to think about it properly, perhaps for the first time.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Literary Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A sprawling yet comprehensive history of the changing urban planning, infrastructure, architecture and interior design of the post-war Square Mile.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—C20 Magazine\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Kaleidoscopic and meticulously researched… Filled with a rich array of overlapping episodes with as many characters, twists, and subplots as one might find in a Victorian novel.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Thomas has produced a detailed, deeply researched and highly engaging account at the intersection of architectural, political, social and economic change.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Architectural Theory Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Amy Thomas’s magisterial new book, \u003ci\u003eThe City in the City: Architecture and Change in London’s Financial District\u003c\/i\u003e, will undoubtedly give a boost to the renewed engagement of architectural historians with the political economy of capitalism.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eArchitecture Beyond Europe\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eAmy Thomas is Assistant Professor of Architectural History at Delft University of Technology. She has published articles in \u003ci\u003eThe Journal of Architecture\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGrey Room\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eArchitectural Theory Review\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eARCH+.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304107495653,"sku":"NP9780262048415","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262048415.jpg?v=1767738698","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-city-in-the-city-isbn-9780262048415","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}