Modernism in the metrocolony : urban cultures of empire in twentieth century literature From Oxford to Cape Town debates over the legacies of the British empire have continued to cluster around features of the built environment. While some commentators have celebrated the British landmarks of cities such as Hong Kong and the imperial histories that they commemorate others have shown how these structures served to concretise divisions cement inequalities and create unsustainable coastal ecologies noting the polarising effects of colonial urban policies as they continue to be felt across postcolonial cities. In this context disputes over the symbolic presence of monuments statues and buildings have energised campaigns for postcolonial reparations as well as efforts to decolonise the university in recent years. What such struggles make clear is that a statue or street name is never just a symbol. Rather these structures shape our lived environments in ways that have lasting material effects forming flashpoints in everyday struggles over the meanings values and narratives with which we negotiate the colonial past