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Social Science Urban

The City Below The Hill

The Slums of Montreal, 1897

by (author) Herbert Brown Ames

introduction by Paul Rutherford

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Dec 1972
Category
Urban, Post-Confederation (1867-), Cultural, Regional Studies
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802061423
    Publish Date
    Dec 1972
    List Price
    $18.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442633018
    Publish Date
    Dec 1972
    List Price
    $21.95

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Description

The city below the hill is a detailed investigation of social conditions in a working class quarter of Montreal during the 1890s. Based on a house-to-house survey of the neighbourhood, this study catalogues and analyses the life of working people after the first years of rapid industrialization.

Sir Herbert Brown Ames was one of the first to recognize that urbanization was inevitable and to set about improving the quality of city life. In this study, first published in book form in 1897, he moves towards the concept of urban ecology—the city is an organism defined by, and expressing itself in, a myriad of social and economic phenomena. As an organic whole its well-being depends upon the well-being of all its citizens. Within this pioneering work are the seeds of the town planning and social welfare movements that later tried to change the urban landscape.

The city below the hill is crammed with facts and statistical analyses of late nineteenth century urban workers. A landmark in the development of urban consciousness in Canada and of sociological research, it is one of the first major efforts to solve problems that are still with us.

About the authors

Sir Herbert Brown Ames, 1863-1954, a progressive businessman and social reformer, was a Montreal alderman from 1898 to 1906, a Conservative MP from 1904 to 1920, and later a Canadian delegate to the League of Nations.

Herbert Brown Ames' profile page

Paul Rutherford is Professor Emeritus in the Department of History at the University of Toronto. He is the author of several books published by UTP, including When Television was Young (1990), The New Icons? (1994), Endless Propaganda (2000), Weapons of Mass Persuasion (2004), and World Made Sexy (2007).

Paul Rutherford's profile page