A collection of essays, which historicize the contemporary discussion of urbanism, highlighting the local and global breadth of the city landscape. It focuses on issues such as street design in Vienna, the motion picture industry in Los Angeles, architecture in Marseilles and Algiers, and the kaleidoscopic paradox of post-apartheid Johannesburg.

List of Illustrations vii Preface ix Introduction by Gyan Prakash 1 SPATIAL IMAGINARIES 19 Chapter 1: Streets, Imaginaries, and Modernity: Vienna Is Not Berlin by David Frisby 21 Chapter 2: The Global Spaces of Los Angeles, 1920s-1930s by Philip J. Ethington 58 Chapter 3: Architecture at the Ends of Empire: Urban Reflections between Algiers and Marseille by Sheila Crane 99 Chapter 4: The City in Fragments: Kaleidoscopic Johannesburg after Apartheid by Martin J. Murray 144 SPATIAL POLITICS 179 Chapter 5: Violence and Spatial Politics between the Local and Imperial: Baghdad, 1778-1810 by Dina Rizk Khoury 181 Chapter 6: From the Lettered City to the Sellers' City: Vendor Politics and Public Space in Urban Mexico, 1880-1926 by Christina M. Jime'nez 214 Chapter 7: The City as Theater of Protest: West Berlin and West Germany, 1962-1983 by Belinda Davis 247 Chapter 8: Nuestro Pueblo: The Spatial and Cultural Politics of Los Angeles' Watts Towers by Sarah Schrank 275 SPACES OF EVERYDAY LIFE 311 Chapter 9: Morality, Majesty, and Murder in 1950s London: Metropolitan Culture and English Modernity by Frank Mort 313 Chapter 10: (Re)Imagining an African City: Performing Culture, Arts, and Citizenship in Dakar (Senegal), 1980-2000 by Mamadou Diouf 346 Chapter 11: Street Observation Science and the Tokyo Economic Bubble, 1986-1990 by Jordan Sand 373 Chapter 12: Spectacle and Death in the City of Bombay Cinema by Ranjani Mazumdar 401 Contributors 433 Index 437

"This ambitious collection of essays is the result of a series of seminars at Princeton University aimed at developing fresh thinking about the city as a dynamic physical space that 'shapes, and is shaped by, power, economy, culture and society.' A fascinating introductory essay by Gyan Prakash outlines recent urban theorising and counters the idea that, in an age of globalisation, specific cityscapes are losing their significance: our urban experiences still depend on 'local lifeworlds', rich with memories and imagination."--The Guardian

"This is a very ambitious collection of diverse, high quality essays. Prakash is certainly right that the study of the modern city is stuck in the literature of European metropolises, and I fully agree with the direction he stakes out in his introduction. The Spaces of the Modern City may be worth its price simply for the introduction."—Thomas Bender, author of The Unfinished City: New York and the Metropolitan Idea"This is an interesting and substantial collection of essays. Combining conceptual sophistication with rich historical studies, the book moves beyond familiar reference points in debates about urban modernity to open up nuanced perspectives on experiences in a wide range of places and periods. The volume makes a significant addition to the growing literature on cities and urbanism."—David Pinder, Queen Mary, University of London"Its global reach and attention to history make this wonderfully ambitious collection unusual. It is very much in line, in terms of scope and conception, with where historically minded urban studies should be heading. Its interdisciplinarity, determination to look beyond the typical Western cities, and insistence on urban centers remaining the source of local concerns—all this is to the good. This is a real landmark volume."—Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of China's Brave New World: And Other Tales for Global Times.

This is a very ambitious collection of diverse, high quality essays. Prakash is certainly right that the study of the modern city is stuck in the literature of European metropolises, and I fully agree with the direction he stakes out in his introduction. The Spaces of the Modern City may be worth its price simply for the introduction. -- Thomas Bender, author of "The Unfinished City: New York and the Metropolitan Idea" This is an interesting and substantial collection of essays. Combining conceptual sophistication with rich historical studies, the book moves beyond familiar reference points in debates about urban modernity to open up nuanced perspectives on experiences in a wide range of places and periods. The volume makes a significant addition to the growing literature on cities and urbanism. -- David Pinder, Queen Mary, University of London Its global reach and attention to history make this wonderfully ambitious collection unusual. It is very much in line, in terms of scope and conception, with where historically minded urban studies should be heading. Its interdisciplinarity, determination to look beyond the typical Western cities, and insistence on urban centers remaining the source of local concerns--all this is to the good. This is a real landmark volume. -- Jeffrey Wasserstrom, author of "China's Brave New World: And Other Tales for Global Times".