In Metro, writer & engineer David Bennett gives a comprehensive insight into the rise of underground travel over the past 150 years. He traces the technological progress
- from the risky breakthroughs in tunnelling techniques that made underground travel possible to the innovations that have made it safer & more pleasant. He also explores the architecture of the most dramatic & inspiring stations ever built. Metro also takes an in-depth look at the cultural phenomena, such as poster art & graffiti, that have flourished on underground systems around the world. Expansively illustrated with 200 photographs, Metro reveals historical facts, heroic achievements, beautiful architectural details, & the secrets of subterranean engineering, & will appeal to historians, designers, architects, rail enthusiasts, & world travellers alike.
...

Metro Maps of the World, published by Capital Transport, is a unique concept bringing together transport maps & diagrams from urban areas around the world. Millions of people use them on a daily basis
- they are as commonplace as Coca-Cola cans in virtually every developed urban area in the world. They have also become some of the most memorised cartographic items in the world, & here they range from the classic London Underground maps to the subways of Tokyo. Maps, diagrams & plans of Subways, Undergrounds, Metros or U-Bahns have in many cities become a mental substitute for geographic layout or in some cases icons for the city itself. This is the first comprehensive collection of current official maps or diagrams of every metro system in the world. There are also many early maps, extension plans & pictures, which are often aligned next to each other for easy comparison. The book

Includes:: Subway, Underground, Metro & U-Bahn maps from 200 cities & is the perfect gift for all of those fascinated by the development of diagrammatic transport maps. You


...

Mark Ovenden's Metro Maps of the World brings together transport maps & diagrams from urban areas around the world. Millions of people use them on a daily basis
- they are as commonplace as Coca-Cola cans in virtually every developed urban area in the world. They have also become some of the most memorized cartographic items in the world, & here they range from the classic London Underground maps to the subways of Tokyo. Maps, diagrams & plans of Subways, Undergrounds, Metros or U-Bahns have in many cities become a mental substitute for geographic layout or in some cases icons for the city itself. This is the first comprehensive collection of current official maps or diagrams of every metro system in the world. There are also many early maps, extension plans & pictures, which are often aligned next to each other for easy comparison. The book, now in its second updated edition,

Includes:: Subway, Underground, Metro & U-Bahn maps from 200 cities & is the perfect gift for all of those fascinated by the development of diagrammatic transport maps. You


...

London`s suburbs are home to many thousands of people who travel into the centre every day to work, but they also house many thousands who rarely find a reason to do so. They contain all the essential infrastructure for the city, too, including airports, offices, shopping centre, factories & warehouses. Outer London is therefore both metropolitan & suburban at the same time
- it is Metroburbia. In this book Paul Knox examines the architectural history & development of London`s suburbs, & celebrates their surprising variety & organized structure, refuting the common claim that they are monotonous or amorphous. The first chapter, The Foundations of Metroburbia, explains the foundation & development of Metroburbia & looks at how topography & geology influenced the siting of the villages that would become part of Greater London. The River Thames, of course, is one of London`s most important & well-known structural elements, & in this chapter Knox examines how its meanders & bends have produced distinct patterns of settlement & development. He also describes in detail the seven distinctive sectors of London, which are (running clockwise from the west) the Thames Valley, Northwest London, North London, the Lea Valley, Northeast London, the Thames Estuary & South London. Finally, he looks at how early settlements, country estates & royal palaces shaped Metroburbia, & how the increase in roads & industry consolidated the development of what would become suburbia. Chapter 2, Pattern-book London, looks at Victorian & Edwardian suburbs
- the first developments to be given that name. The building booms & their effect on employment in the city, & the difference in style & purpose between the various suburbs, are discussed, & Knox also examines the effects of immigration & industrialization on the city`s housing requirements. He also describes the genesis of the parks, cemeteries & garden villages that now provide such valuable green space for Londoners, & the creation of the impressive industrial, civic & institutional buildings that are still striking parts of the city`s infrastructure. Chapter 3, Inter-war Suburbia: Metro-Land & the Universal Plan, describes the acceleration of building projects between the wars & the beginning of the transition from Edwardian society to the modern welfare state. The term ` Metro-Land`, introduced by the Metropolitan Railway Company in the early twentieth century, gives the chapter its title, & describes the expansion of residential London along the route of the Underground lines into Buckinghamshire. The effect of widespread car ownership is discussed, & the various housing styles
- Stockbroker Tudor, Suburban Moderne, the mansion block, & so on
- are described. The fourth chapter, Secular Reformation & Modernism, covers the thirty years from the end of the Second World War, during which time the welfare state brought about radical changes to life in London & the architecture of the city. Chapter 5, Counter-Reformation, describes the changes wrought on the country by the new neo-liberal agenda, as the welfare state was overtaken by a market-driven economy that fostered free-for-all development. By this time Metroburbia had spread outwards to incorporate Chelmsford, Southend-on-Sea, Maidstone, Guildford, Reading & Luton. This was an era of radical new infrastructure projects
- from the rise of the suburban shopping centre to the construction of the new Thames Barrier
- & huge increases in house prices. The regeneration of the Isle of Dogs into the Docklands commercial area is one of the most high-profile developments of the era, but infill house-building & small-scale environmental developments were also produced, & social housing regenerated. Finally, the last chapter, Megapolitan Futures, explores the various theories about the capital`s future & conjectures about the shape of the city in the twenty-first century.





...

Christopher & Toni found in each other the perfect companion for that universal adolescent pastime: smirking at the world as you find it. In between training as flaneurs & the grind of school they cast a cynical eye over their various dislikes: parents with their lives of spotless emptiness, Third Division (North) football teams, God, commuters & girls, & the inhabitants of Metrol&, the strip of suburban dormitory Christopher calls home. Longing for real life to begin, we follow Christopher to Paris in time for les evenements of 1968, only to miss it all in a haze of sex, French theatre & first love, leading, to Toni`s disappointment, back to Metrol&. ...

Los Angeles came of age in the 1920s. The great boom of that decade gave shape to the L.A. of today: its vast suburban sprawl & reliance on the automobile, its prominence as a financial & industrial center, & the rise of Hollywood as the film capital of the world. This collection of original essays explores the making of the Los Angeles metropolis during this remarkable decade. The authors examine the city`s racial, political, cultural, & industrial dynamics, making this volume an essential guide to understanding the rise of Los Angeles as one of the most important cities in the world. These essays showcase the work of a new generation of scholars who are turning their attention to the history of the City of Angels to create a richer, more detailed picture of our urban past. The essays provide a fascinating look at life in the new suburbs, in the oil fields, in the movie studios, at church, & at the polling place as they reconceptualize the origins of contemporary urban problems & promise in Los Angeles & beyond. Adding to its interest, the volume is illustrated with period photography, much of which has not been published before. ...

The city: a place of hopes & dreams, destruction & conflict, vision & order. The first city atlas, the Civitates Orbis Terrarum, was published by Braun & Hogenburg in 1572 for the armchair traveller interested in a world that was opening up around him. Since then our fascination with foreign cities has not abated. This sumptuous volume looks at the development of the mapping & representation of the city revealing how we organize the urban space. From skyline profiles, bird`s eye views & panoramas, to the schematic maps of transport networks & road layouts to help us navigate, & statistical maps that can provide information on human aspirations, cities can reveal themselves in many ways. Focusing on key points in the development of urban representation & including visions of the future of how we would be living today, this enlightening book illustrates some of the oldest, youngest, liveliest, & most contested cities in the world. Each map has a purpose & its design reflects this. Extended captions explain its relevance & elegance. For anyone interested in the city in which they live or with the desire to explore the history & culture of a metropolis overseas, this book is an enlightening companion. ...

The Metropolitan Railway can claim to have had an influence on the evolution of our railway system out of all proportion to its tracks reaching just forty-seven miles from London. However it was the world`s first underground passenger railway, built in 1863 to ease the traffic congestion of a growing London & thus creating the first metro system. Embraced by the notorious Victorian entrepreneur Sir Edward Watkin as part of his ultimately unsuccessful ambition to link Manchester & Paris by rail, the Metropolitan decided to use Watkin`s land to create the iconic ` Metro-land`, an Arcadian form of suburbia embracing affordable housing with easy commuting to London. The brand soon became accepted as the generic description of a lifestyle & by the end of the First World War Metro-land represented the appealing factors of aspiration & affordability. This fascinating history of London`s first tube line & the people involved in its evolution brings us up to date with the latest plans for this idiosyncratic railway in line with the coming 2012 Olympics. Featuring many previously unpublished photographs, it is a must for all railway enthusiasts & social historians. ...

Richard Mabey, one of Britain`s leading nature writers, looks in A Good Parcel of English Soil at the relationship between city & country, & how this brings out the power of nature
- part of a series of twelve books tied to the twelve lines of the London Underground, as Tfl celebrates 150 years of the Tube with Penguin. It is also available in a boxset. ” Richard Mabey`s A Good Parcel of English Soil, his essay on the Metropolitan line, is one of the most compelling segments of Penguin`s Underground Lines.. .eclectic & broad-minded.. .elegantly written”. (Observer). ” Authors include the masterly John Lanchester, the children of Kids Company, comic John O` Farrell & social geographer Danny Dorling. Ranging from the polemical to the fantastical, the personal to the societal, they offer something for every taste. All experience the city as a cultural phenomenon & notice its nature & its people. Read individually they`re delightful small reads, pulled together they offer a particular portrait of a global city”. (Evening Standard). ” Exquisitely diverse”. (The Times). ” Eclectic & broad-minded.. .beautifully designed”. (Tom Cox, Observer).”A fascinating collection with a wide range of styles & themes. The design qualities are excellent, as you might expect from Penguin with a consistent look & feel while allowing distinctive covers for each book. This is a very pleasing set of books”. (A Common Reader blog). ” The contrasts & transitions between books are as stirring as the books themselves...A multidimensional literary jigsaw”. (Londonist). ”A series of short, sharp, city-based vignettes
- some personal, some political & some pictorial.. .each inimitable author finds that our city is complicated but ultimately connected, full of wit, & just the right amount of grit”. (Fabric Magazine). ”A collection of beautiful books”. (Grazia). Praise for Richard Mabey: ” Radiant, tingle-making prose has earned Mabey literary prizes & a multitude of fans”. (Daily Mail). ” Richard Mabey is a man for all seasons, most regions & every kind of landscape”. (Andrew Motion Financial Times).” Refreshing, droll, politically alert, occasionally self-mocking, he has the enviable ability both to write historical overview & also to slip into the woods like a dryad, bringing us back to the trees themselves, their colours & lights & textures”. (Guardian). Richard Mabey has been described as ` Britain`s greatest living nature writer` & is a frequent contributor to the BBC.

...

Travel the world in well-equipped style! Metropolitan travel accessories take their lead from vintage maps of favourite cities; London, Paris, Venice & New York. Wild & Wolf presents a wide selection of cool travel bags, purses, document holders, pens & lip balms each with a contemporary neon flash. ...