"This is a history of the European city from the early Middle Ages until the present. It is also an account of the relationship between urban life and the history of ideas and culture." "The author begins by discussing the survival of urban culture following the barbarian invasions from the north and the Islamic from the east, after the collapse of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. He then continues with a discussion of the great period of urban expansion between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries, the growth of urban freedoms and the development of independent city civilizations in Flanders and Italy." "The two centuries following the formation of the first European states brought concentrated power and the influence to their capitals (Rome, Paris, Prague, London, Antwerp, Lisbon, Seville and Genoa). New ideas of national identity were reflected in the organization of traditional urban space. The conflict between city and country had emerged by the sixteenth century and the author shows how this influenced the colonial towns of the two Americas." "The book concludes with chapters on the effects of industrialization and modern transportation, in particular the devastating impact of the automobile." "This unique synthesis of urban, social, cultural and political history is a tour de force and will be of wide interest to European, intellectual and urban historians."--BOOK JACKET.