Shopping Spaces and the Urban Landscape in Early Modern Amsterdam, 1550-1850

Clé Lesger (Amsterdam 1956) is an associate professor of economic and social history at the University of Amsterdam. His recent fields of interest are urban history in general, the retailing industry, and patterns of land-use and residential segregation in early modern and modern cities. Recently he published a history of retailing in Amsterdam (1550-2000) and co-edited with Jan Hein Furnée The Landscape of Consumption. Shopping Streets and Cultures in Western Europe, 1600-1900 (Palgrave 2014).

• Preface Introduction 1. Shops, markets and the urban landscape in sixteenth-century Amsterdam - Historical background - The location of retail activities: theory - The urban landscape of Amsterdam in the sixteenth century - The location of shops in the urban landscape - Streets, houses and shops 2. Changing distribution systems: differentiation and specialization in early modern Amsterdam - Distribution systems in the US and England - Distributive trade and distribution in Amsterdam - Combinations of wholesale and retail 3. Shop location patterns in the age of the great urban expansions - A period of dynamism and expansion - Patterns of accessibility in the enlarged city - Shops in the city centre and the new neighbourhoods - The retail landscape of Amsterdam in the seventeenth century 4. The retail landscape and the consumer in the seventeenth century - The street - Shopfronts - Shop interiors - Buying and selling 5. The location of shops in Amsterdam in the mid-eighteenth century - Sources and location patterns: a first exploration - The retail system in the city centre: the main shopping streets - Shops outside the city centre - Forms of accessibility and the urban grid in Amsterdam 6. Stagnation and modernization in Amsterdam's retail sector, ca. 1700-1850 - Shops in Britain in the eighteenth century - The number and location of shops in Amsterdam - Urban improvement in Amsterdam - Retail trade practices in Amsterdam Conclusion Appendix: sources for the location of shops in Amsterdam and selection of sectors List of consulted sources and literature List of tables Topographical index Image credits