"Pre-Industrial Cities Reader" has been compiled as a reference source for students and is divided into three main sections, presenting key readings on: Ancient Cities, Medieval and Early Modern Cities, and Pre-Industrial Cities in China and Africa. The book draws on perspectives and writings from across a number of disciplines involved in urban historical studies including archaeology, urban history and historical geography.

The Pre-Industrial Cities Reader is designed to be used on its own or as a companion volume to the accompanying Pre-Industrial Cities: Open University textbook, in the same series. Compiled as a reference source for students, this reader is divided into three main sections, presenting key readings on: Ancient Cities, Medieval and Early Modern Cities, and Pre-Industrial Cities in China and Africa. Among the technologies discussed are: agricaultural innovations such as the heavy plough, water transport, the medieval road revolution, the first urban public transport,...