Past Futures: Innovation and the Railways of Nineteenth-Century London and Paris

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Author(s): Carlos Lopez Galviz (Lancaster University, UK)
Copyright: 2016
Pages: 22
Source title: Handbook of Research on Emerging Innovations in Rail Transportation Engineering
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): B. Umesh Rai (Chennai Metro Rail Limited, India)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-0084-1.ch001

Keywords: Civil Engineering / Engineering Science Reference / Science & Engineering

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Abstract

Innovation was central to developments in urban railway transport in nineteenth-century London and Paris. Innovation was often political, the result of an encounter between and across a range of actors, including railway entrepreneurs and their companies, railway engineers, civil engineers, architects, intellectuals, a range of authorities –local, municipal, metropolitan, regional and national –, and the rich mix of people affected by the opening of a new railway line. The chapter opens up the notion of innovation to issues that cover three different dimensions: the politics, the culture and the social concerns behind the building of railways. It shows how London and Paris coped, but also dealt with one of the most transformative forces of nineteenth-century Britain and France. An important part of that story relates to the different futures that were envisioned in the two cities, in response to specific concerns and determined by a particular set of conditions. This approach highlights the process of how innovations took place rather than the end result.

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Past Futures: Innovation and the Railways of Nineteenth-Century London and Paris

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