Imperial Urbanism in the Borderlands: Kyiv, 1800-1905
© 2017
In the nineteenth and early twentieth century Kyiv was an important city in the European part of the Russian empire, rivaling Warsaw in economic and strategic significance. It also held the unrivaled spiritual and ideological position as Russia’s own Jerusalem. In Imperial Urbanism in the Borderlands, Serhiy Bilenky examines issues of space, urban planning, socio-spatial form, and the perceptions of change in imperial Kyiv. Combining cultural and social history with urban studies, Bilenky unearths a wide range of unpublished archival materials and argues that the changes experienced by the city prior to the revolution of 1917 were no less dramatic and traumatic than those of the Communist and post-Communist era. In fact, much of Kyiv’s contemporary urban form, architecture, and natural setting were shaped by imperial modernizers during the long nineteenth century. The author also explores a general culture of imperial urbanism in Eastern Europe. Imperial Urbanism in the Borderlands is the first work to approach the history of Kyiv from an interdisciplinary perspective and showcases Kyiv’s rightful place as a city worthy of attention from historians, urbanists, and literary scholars.
Product Details
- World Rights
- Page Count: 612 pages
- Dimensions: 6.5in x 1.0in x 9.0in
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Reviews
"Bilenky’s history of Kyiv is probing, timely, and heady."
Steven Seegal, University of Northern Colorado
Slavic Review, vol 78 no 2"This detailed and thoroughly studied examination of Kyiv’s urbanism addresses an important gap in the contemporary scholarship on Ukraine’s modern history. Thanks to its methodological approach and comparative references, Kyiv’s modernism is set into a wider perspective of Europe’s urban development."
Olena Palko, University of London
European History Quarterly"This well-researched monograph is an excellent starting point for all further work and will be of great interest to both specialists and the general public alike."
Fabian Baumann, University of Basel
East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies"Examining novels, travel accounts, statistical data, and a myriad of archival sources, Bilenky displays a vast knowledge of obscure materials, as well as major works on global urbanism."
Michael F. Hamm, Ewing T. Boles Professor of History, emeritus, Centre College"Bringing together literary and archival material, Bilenky unpacks a sophisticated knowledge of current trends in urban history."
Theodore R. Weeks, professor of History, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale -
Author Information
Serhiy Bilenky is a research fellow in at the Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto. He has taught at Columbia University and Harvard University’s Ukrainian Research Institute. -
Table of contents
List of Illustrations and Tables
Acknowledgements
Maps
Introduction
Part I Representing the City
Chapter 1 Mapping the city in transition
Chapter 2 Using the past: The great cemetery of Rus’
Part II Making the City
Chapter 3 Municipal autonomy under the Magdeburg Law, 1800-1835
Chapter 4 Planning a new city: empire transforms space, 1835-1870
Chapter 5 Municipal autonomy reloaded: space for sale, 1871-1905
Part III Peopling the City
Chapter 6 Counting Kyivites: the language of class, religion, and ethnicity
Chapter 7 Municipal elites and “urban regimes”: continuities and disruptions
Part IV Living (in) the City
Chapter 8 Sociospatial form and psychogeography
Chapter 9 What language did the monuments speak?
Conclusion: Towards a Theory of Imperial Urbanism in the Borderlands
Notes
Bibliography 560
Index
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Prizes
The American Association for Ukrainian Studies Book Award - Winner in 2019 -
Subjects and Courses
