Dogopolis presents a surprising source for urban innovation in the
history of three major cities: human-canine relationships.
Stroll through any American or European city today and you probably
won't get far before seeing a dog being taken for a walk. It's expected
that these domesticated animals can easily navigate sidewalks, streets,
and other foundational elements of our built environment. But what if
our cities were actually shaped in response to dogs more than we ever
realized?
Chris Pearson's Dogopolis boldly and convincingly asserts that
human-canine relations were a crucial factor in the formation of modern
urban living. Focusing on New York, London, and Paris from the early
nineteenth century into the 1930s, Pearson shows that human reactions to
dogs significantly remolded them and other contemporary western cities.
It's an unalterable fact that dogs--often filthy, bellicose, and
sometimes off-putting--run away, spread rabies, defecate, and breed
wherever they like, so as dogs became a more and more common in
nineteenth-century middle-class life, cities had to respond to people's
fear of them and revulsion at their least desirable traits. The gradual
integration of dogs into city life centered on disgust at dirt, fear of
crime and vagrancy, and the promotion of humanitarian sentiments. On the
other hand, dogs are some people's most beloved animal companions, and
human compassion and affection for pets and strays were equally powerful
forces in shaping urban modernity. Dogopolis details the complex
interrelations among emotions, sentiment, and the ways we manifest our
feelings toward what we love--showing that together they can actually
reshape society.
