La naissance du paysage industriel en Grande-Bretagne : l'exemple des West Midlands

Abstract

Abstract This article tries to assess the environmental impact of the First Industrial Revolution in XVIIIth an XlXth Century Britain through the example of the West Midlands, cradle of the modern iron and steel industry. The study confirms the Dickensian picture of fumes, fires and factory chimneys towering above long rows of working class housing, but also stresses the other side of the story for many inhabitants : improved sanitation, better standard of housing and the emergence of urban sporting and leisure facilities. But its main emphasis is to show the diversity of industrial scenary, with the three examples of Birmingham, a big and modern industrial town, proud of its civic facilities and remodeled urban architecture, of the Black Country, an juxtaposition of long standing small towns sporting their many crafts and small workshops becoming in the course of the XlXth Century an urban conurbation, and of one- industry company towns emerging in the course of the XlXth Century on the Eastern fringe of the coalfield.