The Poverty of Planning: Property, Class, and Urban Politics in Nineteenth-Century England

by Benno Engels

Overview

Using a neo-Marxian perspective, Benno Engels examines the absence of urban planning in nineteenth-century England. In his analysis of urbanization in England, Engels considers the influences of property owners, inheritance laws, local government structures, fiscal crises of the local and central state, shifts in voter sentiments, fluctuating economic conditions, and class-based pressure group activity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781498585446
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	01/15/2021
Pages:	476
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 8.92(h) x 1.32(d)

About the Author

Benno Engels is senior lecturer in urban and regional planning at RMIT University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Forestalling of Urban Planning Reforms in Nineteenth Century England

Chapter 2: Historiography, Neo-Marxist Theory and Investigating Nineteenth Century England

Chapter 3: Industrialization and Early Nineteenth Century English Towns: The Case for Public Policy Intervention

Chapter 4: Landed Property, English Land Law and the Nineteenth Century Urban Property Market

Chapter 5: Local Government Politics and Urban Improvement Prior to 1835

Chapter 6: Middle Class Political Activism at the Local State Level after the 1835 Municipal Corporations Act

Chapter 7: The Central State, Parliamentary Politics and the Protection of Property

Chapter 8: Working Class Activism and the Agitation for Town Improvements

Chapter 9: Economic and Political Restructuring of England: Phase 1 – 1873 to 1895.

Chapter 10: The Edwardian Political Turn and the Emergence of Urban Planning Reform: Phase 2 – 1896 to 1914.

Chapter 11: The Poverty of Urban Planning in Nineteenth Century England: Conclusions

Editorial Reviews

Engels has authored a significant contribution to 19th-century English industrial history and the history of urban planning. Using an explicit neo-Marxist interpretation of class, political power, and property, Engels identifies key elements that prohibited more effective urban planning in an age of improvement. Historians…will revel in the quantity of data gathered and the analyses that proceed thereon. Engels explicates the role of property and politics in industrial urban England effectively and persuasively. According to this neo-Marxist interpretation, class interests were often subordinated to or even contradicted by property-owning interests. Despite permissive legislation from parliament and localized political pressure from urban progressives, the divisions of property ownership and the resulting conflicts of interest led to stalemates and inaction regarding the infrastructure necessary for a growing industrial urban society. Only by expanding the urban franchise and thoroughly nationalizing urban planning by creating parliamentary mandates did significant planning measures get enacted at the end of the 19th century, often by overriding the competing and conflicting interests of land owners. The Poverty of Planning is worthy of deep engagement by historians, urban planners, and others interested in industrial urban societies. Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.

Choice Reviews

Engels has authored a significant contribution to 19th-century English industrial history and the history of urban planning. Using an explicit neo-Marxist interpretation of class, political power, and property, Engels identifies key elements that prohibited more effective urban planning in an age of improvement. Historians…will revel in the quantity of data gathered and the analyses that proceed thereon. Engels explicates the role of property and politics in industrial urban England effectively and persuasively. According to this neo-Marxist interpretation, class interests were often subordinated to or even contradicted by property-owning interests. Despite permissive legislation from parliament and localized political pressure from urban progressives, the divisions of property ownership and the resulting conflicts of interest led to stalemates and inaction regarding the infrastructure necessary for a growing industrial urban society. Only by expanding the urban franchise and thoroughly nationalizing urban planning by creating parliamentary mandates did significant planning measures get enacted at the end of the 19th century, often by overriding the competing and conflicting interests of land owners. The Poverty of Planning is worthy of deep engagement by historians, urban planners, and others interested in industrial urban societies. Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.

Choice