Cities of the Imagination

Lagos is one of the fastest growing cities in the world, expected in some projections to have a population of 25 million by 2025. This will make it the biggest metropolis in sub-Saharan Africa and possibly the world's third largest city. This phenomenal and continuing growth gives it a heady turbulence, especially as it only took on the form of a coherent urban entity in the eighteenth century. After Nigeria's independence Lagos remained both trading hub and, for thirty years, a federal capital and political vortex. Now its driving sense of 'can-do', its outreach and vitality, make it a fulcrum and a channel for commercial and cultural talent. Kaye Whiteman explores a city that has constantly re-invented itself, from the first settlement on an uninhabited island to the creation of the port in the early years of the twentieth century. Lagos is still defined by its curious network of islands and lagoons, where erosion and reclamation lead to a permanently shifting topography, but history has thrust it into the role of a burgeoning mega-city, overcoming all nature's obstacles. The city's melting-pot has fertilised a unique literary and artistic flowering that is only now beginning to be appreciated by a world that has only seen slums and chaos. COLONIAL CITY: Portuguese influences; the 1861 Treaty of Cession and the British colonialists; architectural traces: schools and government buildings; the move towards independence. CITY OF ENTREPRENEURS: trading through the centuries...

Kyoto, the ancient former capital of Japan, breathes history and mystery. Its temples, gardens and palaces are testimony to many centuries of aristocratic and religious grandeur. Under the veneer of modernity, the city remains filled with countless reminders of a proud past. John Dougill explores this most venerable of Japanese cities, revealing the spirit of place and the individuals that have shaped its often dramatic history. Courtiers and courtesans, poets and priests, samurai and geisha people the pages of his account. Covering twelve centuries in all, the book not only provides a historical overview but brings to life the cultural magnificence of the city of "Purple Hills and Crystal Streams". City of Power: The seat of aristocrats and warriors; military might and spiritual authority; unification and the transition to modernity. City of Ritual: Buddhist sects and Shinto festivals; tea ceremony; the role of the geisha; the influence of Zen. City of Arts: Poetry and fiction; architecture and garden design; Heian verse and Noh theatre; art and handicrafts; the Japanese Hollywood.

From its obscure origins as a fishing village along a marshy estuary, Tokyo grew into one of the world's largest and most culturally vibrant metropolises. For all its modernity and craving for the new, it is a city impregnated with the past. In the backstreets of districts that have inspired the setting for science fiction novels are wooden temples, fox shrines, mouldering steles and statues of Bodhisattvas that evoke a different age. The point where time past, present and future coexist, Tokyo's thirst for the contemporary is moderated by nostalgia for the past. As an urban laboratory where the cultures of the East and West are remixed into perceptibly Japanese forms, Tokyo embraces sudden transitions, constant flux and transformation. The courtesans of its pleasure quarters inspired Edo-period woodblock artists, novelists and poets. In a later age, its experimental artists, feminist writers and Modern Girls of 1920s Ginza both shocked and electrified the capital. Stephen Mansfield explores a city rich in diversity, tracing its evolution from the founding of its massive stone citadel through rise of a merchant class whose wealth transformed Edo into a home for artists, writers and performers. In contemporary Tokyo he explores the unique crossbred cultures of taste that make the giant conurbation one of the most exciting and creative cities in the world.

Situated on Lake Malaren on one of the world's most beautiful harbours, Stockholm has set the benchmark for civilized city-living since the time of the Vikings. Its medieval regal period saw the Vasa dynasty turn a small town in the shadow of Uppsala into the capital city of a dominant power in Europe and a major trading port. In the Napoleonic era Stockholm readjusted its priorities to establish itself as a centre of innovation, technical and social. While the city has suffered more than its fair share of disasters, Stockholm's cultural and commercial elite transformed it into a community which welcomed innovation and spread the fruits of its achievements far beyond its borders. From its celebrated Old Town, dating from the Middle Ages, to its Art Nouveau and modern quarters, Stockholm is a city rich in museums, theatres and landmarks. Tony Griffiths explores the Swedish capital, old and new, revealing a city of unexpected contradictions. CITY OF POWER, INTRIGUE AND MURDER: Gustav Vasa, Queen Christina and Voltaire; murder at a Masked Ball, Olaf Palme s assassination; Lindh, social democracy and armed neutrality; the rights of women and the impact of immigration CITY OF SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS: Linnaeus and Nobel; Ericsson and new technology; Laval, Wenner-Gren and Kamprad. SENSUAL CITY: Strindberg, Greta Garbo, Ingrid and Ingmar Bergman; sculptors and painters; home of the smorgasbord; the church, lust and the alcohol monopoly.