Jane Ridley

From the Sewers

Building Jerusalem: The Rise and Fall of the Victorian City

By

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WHAT IS THE trouble with our cities today? Tristram Hunt thinks he knows the answer, and it has to do with the decline of the Victorian city. Unlike us, the Victorians cared passionately about -their cities. Then, cities were at the heart of public debate. They were exciting and frightening, dirty and beautiful, opulent and shabby – cities were the new and the future. How different from today, when the idea of the city conjures up a vision of deadbeat councillors, sleazy planning boards and litter. Where did it all go wrong?

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