Urban History Journal 50th Anniversary Conference

The State of Urban History: Past, Present, Future

University of Leicester, 11-13 July 2023

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Urban History journal invites participants to a conference assessing the State of Urban History: Past, Present, Future. From its origins with the work of H.J. Dyos and the founding of the British Urban History Group, the Urban Historyjournal has been at the forefront of historical scholarship on the urban experience. The goal of this anniversary conference is to take stock of urban history as a discipline, its current theoretical underpinnings, methodologies and practices, and consider its future goals and impact on the production of historical knowledge. Our hope is to spark a spirited debate on the concepts and approaches that inform urban histories and to reflect on new horizons for historical research on the urban condition.

The CALL FOR PAPERS will open in Spring 2022. We invite interventions that engage critically with the field of urban history across geography and time periods. We welcome reflections on theory and methodologies, and on new sources and formats for historical research. We invite appraisals of how urban historians can contribute to debates on the many challenges facing towns and cities in the 21st century.

The organizers welcome a variety of sessions from traditional panels to roundtables, workshops, brainstorming sessions, film and digital presentations. We invite innovative thinking on how urban history is produced and shared as a scholarly endeavor.

Keynote speakers

  • Lynn Hollen Lees (University of Pennyslvania)
  • Martha Howell (Columbia University)
  • Kennetta Hammond Perry (De Montfort University)
  • Brenda Yeoh (National University of Singapore)

For more information, click here to contact the journal’s editorial board.