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25 - Epilogue

from Part V - Images

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

Martin Daunton
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

The third volume of the Cambridge Urban History comes to a close around 1950. It has explained how crisis and rupture in the second quarter of the nineteenth century were resolved in the later nineteenth century, through the creation of voluntary associations and an active municipal culture to deal with problems of ‘free riders’ and urban diseconomies, and to provide large-scale investment in the urban infrastructure. During much of this period, cities had powerful external economies, and allowed firms to operate with relatively weak internal systems of management. They accumulated considerable amounts of ‘social capital’ – webs of interconnections and sociability – which contributed to economic efficiency, social stability and political effectiveness. But the importance of cities slowly started to decline in the twentieth century. The power of the central state increased, taking an ever greater role in providing welfare and in offering financial assistance for local services. Municipal enterprises were nationalised, and local democratic control surrendered. Industrial concerns developed internal management systems, and were more concerned with national politics than with the municipality, with institutional investors in London than with networks of local reputation.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2001

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  • Epilogue
  • Edited by Martin Daunton, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Cambridge Urban History of Britain
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521417075.026
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  • Epilogue
  • Edited by Martin Daunton, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Cambridge Urban History of Britain
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521417075.026
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Epilogue
  • Edited by Martin Daunton, University of Cambridge
  • Book: The Cambridge Urban History of Britain
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521417075.026
Available formats
×