The Construction of an Urban Past : Narrative and System in Urban History

This book offers a new theoretical basis for urban studies and for historical studies in general by addressing one of the main problems that confronts contemporary historians. How is it possible to process and synthesize an increasingly overwhelming amount of specialist research in the face of the theoretical deadlock caused by postmodernism? How can we move beyond its claim that the past is unknowable? Jansen's approach - in which he claims there is a reality that is accessible to our cognitive capacities - is based on Systems Theory, which has already been applied so successfully in the fields of management and organization. While focusing his attention on urban historiography, Jansen argues that an integrative systems approach can be used in any field of historical enquiry to create a meaningful picture of the past. He illustrates the importance of structuring data in this way by looking at the profound complexity of the urban environment. This book is therefore important reading not only for urban historians and geographers but also for all social scientists interested in the future study of the European city. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 8 Part I: Systems Theory and Urban Historiography......Page 10 1 Introduction......Page 12 2 Wrestling with the Angle: On Problems of Definition in Urban Historiography......Page 40 Part II: Relatively-Closed and Half-Open Systems......Page 70 3 Relatively-Closed Systems and a World Full of Black Boxes......Page 72 4 Half-Open and Open Systems, Order and Chaos......Page 100 Part III: Relatively-Closed System Constructions in Urban Historiography......Page 124 5 Cites as Quasi-personages: The Long-Term Studies......Page 126 6 Uncovering an Urban Biography: Closed-System Constructions of Individual Cities......Page 156 Part IV: Half-Open System Constructions in Urban Historiography......Page 178 7 Babushkas of City Systems: Macro Levels in Long-Term Urban Studies......Page 180 8 Uncovering the Micro-Level: Sub-system Constructions in Urban Historiography......Page 212 Part V: Time and Temporal Arrangement......Page 244 9 Time and Entities: Subjectifying and Objectifying Conceptions......Page 246 10 Time and (Dis)Continuity: Arrangements of Time......Page 284 11 Conclusion......Page 320 Bibliography......Page 334 B......Page 362 C......Page 363 D......Page 365 E......Page 366 G......Page 367 I......Page 368 L......Page 369 N......Page 370 P......Page 371 R......Page 373 S......Page 374 T......Page 376 V......Page 377 Z......Page 378 F......Page 380 M......Page 381 V......Page 382 Z......Page 383 This work addresses one of the main problems facing contemporary historians - how can the specialist research on urban history be reconciled with postmodernism? It argues that an integrative systems approach can be used in any historical enquiry to construct a view of the past.