​My bookshelves are weighed down by books on the history and architecture of Bristol, and I learn something new from each one of them. I believe strongly that all the biggest mistakes we make in this city are those that we fail to learn from history.

On Friday a very different book was launched at the Tobacco Factory about one small corner of Ashton, a neighbourhood of four short streets dating back a century, but in some ways by focussing in on one place, it teaches me more about life in this city than do any of the great tomes on Bristol as a whole.

What is delightful about One Small Corner of Bristol is that it is an entirely local initiative, edited by its three local authors, John Holland, Pat Hooper and Martin Howard, and published by Bristol’s own Redcliffe Press.

However, the narrative is largely that of the local people whose memories evoke such a clear picture of the way life has changed over just a couple of generations.

There has been a real constant in the fabric and architecture of this residential triangle adjacent to Greville Smyth Park and bounded by Coronation Road and Clift House Road, but socially so much has changed in just a couple of generations.

This triangle of some 100 houses was built at the time of Bristol’s great industrial expansion south of the river on a field opposite the Clift House Tannery, which is one of the few industries in the area that has continued to operate and provide local employment since the end of the 19th century.

The book relates stories of the long- lost Rowe’s corner shop, of their own corner bakery and of a thriving North Street, but it is the impact of the loss of Imperial Tobacco from the area in the Eighties that must account for more social and economic upheaval than any other single factor.

However, there is today celebration of the revival of North Street and the book happily coincides with the opening of a new local bakery adjacent to the old brewery.

Maybe the most thought provoking chapter is the one on play, the loss of a community of children replaced by phalanxes of cars and a fear of strangers.

However, this book is not one of complaint, but of a community that has been brought together through a project that has revealed some real pride in a fascinating corner of Bristol.

Let’s hope that the new places we build today will bring such pride in 100 years’ time.

I somehow doubt we have achieved that over the past 50 years, but as architects, planners and politicians we have a great responsibility to learn from such stories and to build real cohesive communities – not housing estates.