The English Urban Renaissance: Culture and Society in the English Provincial Town, 1660-1770.

This review reconsiders the place and importance of urban political culture in England between c. 1550 and c. 1750. Relating recent work on urban political culture to trends in political, social, and cultural historiography, it argues that England's towns and boroughs underwent two ‘renaissances’ over the course of the period: a ‘civic renaissance’ and the better-known ‘urban renaissance’. The former was fashioned in the sixteenth century; however, its legacy continued to inform political thought and practice over 150 years later. Similarly, although the latter is generally associated with ‘the long eighteenth century’, its attributes can be traced to at least the Elizabethan era. While central to broader transitions in post-Reformation political culture, these ‘renaissances’ were crucial in restructuring the social relations and social identity of townsmen and women. They also constituted an important but generally neglected dynamic of England's seventeenth-century ‘troubles’.

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The ‘urban renaissance’ and the mob: rethinking civic improvement over the long eighteenth century

Structures and Transformations in Modern British History ◽

10.1017/cbo9780511973901.003 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 54-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Emma Griffin

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

Urban Renaissance ◽

Long Eighteenth Century

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»Reclaiming« the City: A Collective Endeavor

Dimensions ◽

10.14361/dak-2021-0214 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 183-202

Author(s):

Sergiy Ilchenko

Keyword(s):

Urban Space ◽

Local Community ◽

Public Spaces ◽

Urban Spaces ◽

Collective Actions ◽

Way Of Life ◽

Urban Renaissance ◽

The Impact ◽

The City ◽

Being Moved

Abstract This contribution elaborates upon the appropriation of urban space in spatiotemporal and procedural interventions in the example of the city of Kharkiv, as well as the impact of urban space on the process of how various groups rediscover and use various parts of the city. Being moved during collective actions - in the sense of feeling urged to move along - goes beyond routine practices by influencing the city and its perception. It seems that these general processions, celebrations, and festive activities of the residents are their contributions to the process of »urban renaissance« - the rebirth of interest in the urban way of life. Since public spaces reflect the historical inheritance of local communities, joint transformative actions such as, »appropriation «, »production«, and »governance« of urban spaces are considered. This article advocates for the practice of domestication of urban space by the local community, as well as the need for the existence of »urban lagoons« - free (unregulated) areas of the city used as resources for urban development and interaction of citizens.

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