Sunderland: Building a City traces the physical development of Sunderland from a group of medieval setllements into the city of a new millennium. The villages and hamlets of the Middle Ages, focusing upon the port and river, laid the foundations of today's flourishing city, which still bears the strong imprint of older neighbourhoods.

Building a City explores the forces behind Sunderland's spectacular growth as a centre of the coal trade, as a commercial power and port, and as a town drawing in many thousands of migrants. Illustrated with modern and historic photographs and drawings, and with specially commissioned maps and plans, the book uncovers Sunderland's earliest settlements, its mansions and estates, its unique industrial landmarks, its working-class housing, middle-class enclaves, and architectural highlights. Building a City is an invaluable guide to the history concealed within the modern landscape, and will be indispensible to anyone who seeks to retain and restore Sunderland's historic assets.