2nd Edition
Of Planting and Planning The making of British colonial cities
‘At the centre of the world-economy, one always finds an exceptional state, strong, aggressive and privileged, dynamic, simultaneously feared and admired.’ - Fernand Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism, 15th–18th Centuries
This, surely, is an apt description of the British Empire at its zenith.
Of Planting and Planning explores how Britain used the formation of towns and cities as an instrument of colonial expansion and control throughout the Empire. Beginning with the seventeenth-century plantation of Ulster and ending with decolonization after the Second World War, Robert Home reveals how the British Empire gave rise to many of the biggest cities in the world and how colonial policy and planning had a profound impact on the form and functioning of those cities.
This second edition retains the thematic, chronological and interdisciplinary approach of the first, each chapter identifying a key element of colonial town planning. New material and illustrations have been added, incorporating the author's further research since the first edition. Most importantly, Of Planting and Planning remains the only book to cover the whole sweep of British colonial urbanism.
Introduction: ‘The Chief Exporter of Municipalities’ 1. The ‘Grand Modell’ of Colonial Settlement 2.‘Planting is My Trade’: The Shapers of Colonial Urban Landscapes 3. Port Cities of the British Empire: ‘A Global Thalassocracy’ 4. The ‘Warehousing’ of the Labouring Classes 5. ‘The Inconvenience felt by Europeans’: Racial Segregation, Its Rise and Fall 6. ‘Miracle-Worker to the People’: The Idea of Town Planning, 1910–1935 7. ‘This Novel Legislation’: Institutionalizing Town Planning, 1900–1950 8. ‘What Kind of Country Do You Want?’: The Transition to Independence Conclusions: The Legacy of Colonial Town Planning
Biography
Robert Home is Professor of Land Management, Anglia Law School, Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
