Changing Cultures by Mascarenhas-Mateus, João;

Short description:

The first part explores the mutual international influence between these countries and their intrinsic characteristics in this field, resulting from each nation’s particular economic, social, political, cultural and technological conditions. The second part of the book focuses on the history of public works companies.

Long description:

The construction practices we employ in our daily life in European societies today were shaped by major changes in the past, such as the introduction and dissemination of Portland cement and reinforced concrete, a development that constitutes a fundamental chapter in the history of construction in the 19th and 20th centuries. Such changes were boosted by several innovations in the fields of applied mathematics, chemistry and physics. They involved patents licensing, optimization of materials production and machinery. There were new legislative frameworks, a specific knowledge transfer within a network of actors and the transformation of hierarchical frameworks.

Written by international specialists, this two-part book is centred on case studies from the UK, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Italy. The first part explores the mutual international influence between these countries and their intrinsic characteristics in this field, resulting from each nation’s particular economic, social, political, cultural and technological conditions. The second part focuses on the history of public works companies. Capable of carrying out both private works and major infrastructures, these players exemplify the technological and business advances that the construction sector has experienced over the last two centuries. This book is a must-read for researchers on contemporary construction history in Europe.

The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Create Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 (CC-BY-NC-ND) license.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

1.1 The Reception of Cement and Reinforced Concrete in Portugal Before 1935

1.2 From Patent to Standard: Accommodating Change in Britain’s Use of Building Materials, 1824–1934

1.3 The First Modern Concretes and the Rise of New Aesthetic Paradigms in 19th-Century France

1.4 Institutions Within a New Material: Early Reinforced Concrete in Switzerland and Germany

1.5 The First Patents for Reinforced Concrete: The Origins of the 20th-Century Construction Revolution in Spain

1.6 Belgium’s international reputation in the history of concrete: Blaton, Christophe, Franki, Hennebique, Magnel and others

1.7 Reinforced Concrete in Italy: From its Origins to the Second World War

2.1 British Public Works Contracting 1730–1880

2.2 The Belgian Company Blaton: From the Trade of Cement to the International Promotion of Prestressed Concrete, 1865–1954

2.3 Rodolfo Stoelcker: A German Engineer-Contractor in Italy in the First Half of the 20th Century

2.4 Public Works Contractors in Antwerp in the 19th and 20th Centuries

2.5 Portuguese Public Works Contractors During the Estado Novo (1933–1974): From Conjunctural Singularities to Common European Practices