What Is Urban History?

Urban history is a well-established and flourishing field of historical research. This short introduction to the field, written by a leading scholar, demonstrates how urban history draws upon a wide variety of methodologies and sources, and has been integral to the rise of inter-disciplinary and comparative approaches to history since the second-half of the twentieth century. Shane Ewen offers an accessible and clearly-written guide to the study of urban history for the student, teacher, researcher or general reader who is new to the field and interested in learning about past approaches as well as key themes, concepts and trajectories for future research. He takes a global and comparative approach, combining a discussion of classic texts in the field with the latest literature to illustrate the current debates and controversies across the urban world. The historiography of the field is mapped out by theme, including new topics of interest, with a particular focus on space and social identity, power and governance, the built environment, culture and modernity, and the growth and spread of transnational networking.

By discussing a number of historic and fast-growing cities across the world, What is Urban History? demonstrates why the history of urban life continues to be important to our understanding of our world, both in the present and the future. As a result, urban history continues to be pivotal for explaining the continued growth of towns and cities across the world, and is particularly useful for identifying the various problems and solutions facing fast-growing mega-cities in the developing world.

Shane Ewen is Senior Lecturer in Social and Cultural History at Leeds Beckett University, UK.