Introductory description

Urbanization is a defining feature of modernity and its history. Although the majority of the world population did not live in towns and cities before 2008, the experience of urban life offers a very useful perspective on the making of the modern world. Centres of political power, cultural influence, and economic activities, towns and cities have long played a critical role in global history. As a result, urban disasters often threatened the long-term trajectories of cities and states alike as their human and material toll reverberated for years and decades thereafter. From San Francisco in the 1900s to Beirut in the late-twentieth century, the capacity of urban settlements to recover from environmental catastrophes, industrial accidents, economic decline, and from the ravages of war revealed the strengths and the weaknesses of their social fabric. In dramatic circumstances, urban reconstruction also brings to light many issues of great importance to modern historians: the link between the built environment and local identity, the nature of social cohesion, the relationship between state and civil society, the emergence of transnational solidarity, etc.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

1. Introduction
2. Cities and towns in modern history
3. Nature, man and disasters in modern history
4. Fires in early twentieth-century cities
5. Industrial accidents and urban devastation
6. ~ Reading Week: no lectures or seminars ~
7. The urban aftermath of the First World War
8. Urban reconstruction and the origins of humanitarianism
9. Earthquakes in early twentieth-century cities
10. The future of cities: the transnational history of urban planning
11. The meanings of reconstruction in the interwar period
12. The urban aftermath of the Spanish Civil War
13. The urban aftermath of the Second World War
14. Cities in the wake of atomic warfare
15. Urban devastation and refugeedom in both world wars
16. ~ Reading Week: no lectures or seminars ~
17. Earthquakes in late twentieth-century cities
18. "Urbicide" in 1990s Europe
19. Urban reconstruction in the contemporary Middle-East
20. Economic decline and urban renewal
21. How terrorism is reshaping global cities
22. Cities and risks: urban resilience and the social sciences
23. Comparing catastrophes and making sense of urban disasters

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of theoretical approaches and sources related to the study of urban history.
• Communicate ideas and findings, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
• Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material connected to urban history.
• Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing interdisciplinary scholarship.
• Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.

Indicative reading list

Reading lists can be found in Talis

Specific reading list for the module

Subject specific skills

See learning outcomes.

Transferable skills

See learning outcomes.