Largely unknown small towns always in the shadow of famous cities are mostly overlooked by historical research. English, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Czech and Russian towns are staged in this volume as examples of a typical European phenomena.
They appear in diverse shape influenced by their countries and regions history. One of possible strategies to overcome difficulties and motivate new development uses cultural heritage as a marketable value.
International team of urban historians, sociologists and historians of arts and architects joined at the European Association for Urban History conference in Lisbon 2014, and decided to present the issue in this volume composed of preface of the editor, introductory chapter presenting the positioning of authors, five thematic chapters and concluding remarks, written by 12 authors using a variety of methods and perspectives.