Despite efforts to revitalize urban centers, America’s cities confront a mass exodus of residents and workers. But in late 18th and 19th century Europe, the urban problem was quite the opposite: a massive influx of people that caused expansion in some cities by 1,000 percent or more.

In a new book by Camden history professor Andrew Lees, co-written with his wife, Lynn Hollen Lees, a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, the multifaceted role of the city is examined during this crucial period in Europe, where challenges of sudden growth caused by the industrial revolution and national unification were often met with creative solutions.

In their first co-authored book, Cities and the Making of Modern Europe, 1750-1914 (Cambridge University Press, 2007), the couple address why the expansion took place, how it occurred, and what the consequences were for dozens of cities primarily in Britain, Germany, and France, but also elsewhere in Europe and in European colonies overseas.

“Although there are a lot of books on individual cities, and there are some books that deal with the city going back to ancient Athens and Rome, we saw that there wasn’t really anything that dealt with what seemed to be a take-off period in the development of the urban sector in Europe,” Andrew Lees said.

The extreme growth caused a multitude of difficulties, including public health problems, slum housing, lack of clean water, political tensions, and protests. Yet what fascinates the Lees is that from these stressed situations arose remarkable initiatives for the public good. Concerned citizens and employers built philanthropic housing; members of the middle class worked to advance the cause of adult education through vocational classes and general education classes; public health movements motivated the populace. And the era saw the birth of a more efficient municipal government that managed public parks, transportation, and utilities.

According to Andrew Lees, a strong social consciousness by those considered privileged implied a moral obligation to reach out to others in need. “They understood that social disorder could be harmful for everyone – bad water would pollute whole cities, not just neighborhoods,” Lees said.

He noted that America’s cities of the 21st century can learn some lessons from Europe’s cities of the industrial revolution.  “Civic involvement is crucial to the health and vitality of any city, regardless of the era,” Lees said.

True urbanites, the Leeses have lived in Philadelphia since the 1970s, but have traveled to more than half of the cities they studied. Most recently, they have called London, Berlin, and Munich home.

The couple has collaborated previously, co-editing a series of books about European urban society. Andrew Lees is a specialist in the social and intellectual history of 19th and 20th century Germany, while his wife, co-director of the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies at Penn’s Wharton School, researches European cities, their social organization, and their welfare institutions.