Triggered in part by contemporary experiences in the Balkans, the Middle East and elsewhere, there has been a rise in interest in the blitz and the subsequent reconstruction of cities, especially as many of the buildings and areas rebuilt after the Second World War are now facing demolition and reconstruction in their turn. Drawing together leading scholars and new researchers from across the fields of planning, history, architecture and geography, this volume presents an historical and cultural commentary on the immediate and longer-term impacts of wartime destruction. The book's contents in 14 chapters cover the spread of themes from experiencing the war to reconstruction and its experiences; and although many chapters draw upon the UK experience, there is deliberate inclusion of some material from mainland Europe and Japan to emphasise that the experiences, processes and products are not London-specific. A comparative book tracing destruction to reconstruction is a relative rarity, and yet of the utmost importance in possessing wider relevance to post-disaster reconstructions. The Blitz and Its Legacy is a fascinating volume which includes war experiences of destruction, architecture, urban design, the political process of planning and reconstruction, and also popular perceptions of rebuilding. Its findings provide very timely lessons which highlight the value of learning from historical precedent.
Contents: The Blitz, its experiences, its consequences, Mark Clapson and
Peter J. Larkham; La ville éventrée: or, how bombing turned the city inside
out, Lindsey Dodd; Holiday camps, castles and stately homes: the residential
option for the evacuation of disabled children during World War II, Sue
Wheatcroft; A service forged in the flames: the Blitz, wartime fire-fighting
and the National Fire Service, Shane Ewen; Between destruction and
reconstruction: Londons Debris Clearance and Repair Organisation 1939-1945,
Robin Woolven; The peoples peace: the myth of wartime unity and public
consent for town planning, Susanne Cowan; Reconstruction constraints:
political and economic realities, Catherine Flinn; Destruction and dispersal:
the Blitz and the break-up of working-class London, Mark Clapson; Tradition
and modernity: architecture in Japan after Hiroshima, Neil Jackson;
Reconstruction civic authority in post-war Germany, Jeffry M. Diefendorf;
Bold planning, mixed experiences: the diverse fortunes of post-war
Birmingham, David Adams and Peter J. Larkham; Planning the reconstruction of
war-damaged Plymouth, 1941-1961: devising and defending a modernisation
agenda, Stephen Essex and Mark Brayshay; Destruction, revival and
reconstruction across Alsace and Lorraine, 1939-1960, Hugh Clout; Problems of
blitz reconstruction in Japan: the case of Sendai, Junichi Hasegawa; Index.
Peter J. Larkham, Mark Clapson
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