Intelligent Town

"This is the first full-length study of Swansea's urban development from the late eighteenth to the mid nineteenth century. It tells the little known story of how Swansea gained an unrivalled position of influence as an urban centre, which led it briefly to claim to be the 'metropolis of Wales', and how it then lost this status in the face of rapid urban development elsewhere in Wales. The history of Swansea's early ninetieth century coming-of-age is traced through its participant individuals and institutions."--Jacket.