The fate of towns and cities stands at the center of the environmental history of World War II.
Broad swaths of cityscapes were destroyed by the bombing of targets such as transport hubs
electrical grids and industrial districts and across Europe Asia and the Americas urban
environments were transformed by the massive mobilization of human and natural resources to
support the conflict. But at the same time the war saw remarkable resilience among the human
and non-human residents of cities. Foregrounding the concept of urban resilience this
collection uncovers the creative survival strategies that city-dwellers of all kinds turned to
in the midst of environmental devastation. As the first major study at the intersection of
environmental urban and military history The Resilient City in World War II lays the
groundwork for an improved understanding of rapid change in urban environments and how
societies may adapt.
