Originally published in 1988, this book provides a fascinating comparative review of research in urban historical geography in Britain and West Germany. It draws together a wide range of material on the history of urban development to explore the theoretical and methodological possibilities offered by comparative surveys of contrasting national and regional urban expenses. The chronological focus of the essays ranges in time from the medieval period onwards, and the contributors explore not only the specifically intellectual consequences of their empirical research, but also its policy implications for urban planners and conservationists. Serious extended comparative debate has hitherto been absent from the field of urban historical geography as a whole: this volume sought to reverse that trend, and in so doing to establish a fresh research agenda for an important and expanding discipline.