A Tale of Three Thirsty Cities

Download or read book A Tale of Three Thirsty Cities written by Jaime-Chaim Shulman and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2017-11-01 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In A Tale of Three Thirsty Cities: The Innovative Water Supply Systems of Toledo, London and Paris in the Second Half of the Sixteenth Century, Chaim Shulman presents an analysis of three projects of urban water supply systems carried out between 1560s–1610s. The technical and economic differences between these projects resulted from external conditions not directly related to the water supply problem. Although the same basic technology was apparently available at the time in all cases, the geographical, engineering, entrepreneurial and cultural nature of each region differed. The inhabitants’ wellbeing improvement achieved varied accordingly. Much broader insights are drawn on the policies of the three monarchies regarding the initiative of and support for grand scale public works in general.