Journal of Urban History RSS feed -- OnlineFirst Articles

Parallax Perspectives on the Urban Problem

Davidson, M. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:05:01 PST

Expanding the Industrial Revolution

Gilje, P. A. — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:05:52 PST

Engaging the City: Civic Participation and Teaching Urban History

Howard, A. L. — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:35:46 PDT

Building on a long history of community outreach in higher education, many colleges and universities are taking a more intentional approach to civic engagement. As urban higher education institutions strive to become better neighbors, urban history courses have a valuable role to play in generating research, building connections between the campus and the community, and engaging students in the cities where they study. Using a course-based living-learning community as a case study, this article demonstrates the way an urban history course at the University of Richmond links pedagogy and community engagement. Through "learning out" assignments that include producing a documentary on a local social issue within a national historical context and blogging, students share what they are learning with others outside the class with the aim of urging action for social change.

Adding Gender to American Urban History

Krissoff Boehm, L. — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:07:40 PDT

Urban history can be merged with other history subfields to create intriguing amalgamations that work well as the subject for college classes. In this article, the author explores the intellectual journey that led her to combine urban history and women’s history, both in her own research and in her college classroom. The intricacies of the class "Gender and the City," are explored, including reading assignments, a courses exercise in mental mapping, and class participation in a community oral history project. Oral history proves to be an extremely malleable assignment, even when rigorously following the Oral History Association guidelines, and the methodology befits many kinds of urban history courses.

Introduction to the Journal of Urban History's Issue on Teaching

Krissoff Boehm, L. — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:43:51 PDT

Pedagogy and Place: Merging Urban and Environmental History with Active Learning

Corey, S. H. — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:43:50 PDT

Exposing undergraduates to history first-hand through the active learning process is an effective and rewarding way to help them learn about the evolution and nature of urban life. This article highlights the experience of an urban studies professor in implementing active learning models and inquirybased exercises into four separate undergraduate courses; an interdisciplinary introductory course in urban studies, a survey course in American urban history, an upper-level class in environmental history and public policy, and a specialized course on community development and urban renewal. It argues that a wide variety of local sources can be used to illustrate larger urban trends and environmental themes while at the same time exciting students about becoming scholars, public policy professionals, and informed citizens.

The City and Public History

Wilson, G. — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:43:50 PDT

Focusing on a course titled "History, Communities and Memory, " this article examines the course content, undergraduate and graduate student learning outcomes, and the pedagogical approaches employed throughout the semester. Using Akron’s engaging history and the portrayal of the city in public sites as a case study, the class serves as both an introduction to public history and to the interplay between history and memory. Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson’s seven principles for best practice inform the teaching methodologies discussed here, combined with a focus on critical thinking and civic engagement. The course content emphasizes how communities and historic sites present their history (or histories) and (following the work of Maurice Halbwachs) how memory operates simultaneously on both the individual level and the social one. The students employ Akron—especially its industrial past—to understand how the concepts and theories presented in the readings can be applied.

Cities and the Making of Modern Europe

Lenger, F. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:42:51 PDT

In and Out of the Field

Lewis, M. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:42:51 PDT

In this article I describe and discuss my attempt to design an entire course around a shared class project of conducting applied local environmental history research leading to an online book. Although I am an environmental historian, this course draws heavily on urban history as well. I start with the concrete details of my current course design, followed by some reflections on my previous attempts at teaching this course. Ultimately, I believe that both urban and environmental history courses would benefit from attempting to get our students into the field and conducting local research that links physical places to written documents and narratives. This provides the students the opportunity to connect history with physical places that they can visit and experience. We would be remiss if we did not use this inherent advantage that we have as urban and/or environmental historians. Through this "field history," we can reach students and teach them how to truly engage in the practice and art of history.

Humans, Cities, and Nature: How Do Cities Fit in the Material World?

Melosi, M. V. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:42:50 PDT

This paper explores how historians—and others—continue to create a barrier between the natural world and the city, and why the so-called declensionist narrative—humans as agents of harmful physical change—still dominates our understanding of the urban environment. It suggests several ways to reconsider the declensionist narrative; to evaluate the connection between "first nature" and "second nature;" to better understand the relationship between urban and ecological systems; and to assess how cities are natural.

First Approaches toward Understanding Mexico City's Culture of Consumption

Bunker, S. B. — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:36:49 PDT

Urban History on the Indian Ocean Rim

Gilbert, E. — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:36:48 PDT

War and Postwar Transformation of Urban Areas: The 1949 War and the Incorporation of Jaffa into Tel Aviv

Golan, A. — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:48:54 PDT

War is a distinctive form of human-made catastrophe whose impact in many cases reaches far beyond the actual places of its occurrence. While regarded a catastrophe in areas exposed to acts of belligerency, in the rear war might generate a process of major development, resulting in a conclusive spatial transformation process. In both front and rear areas, the outcomes of wartime drastic processes are mostly short lived, gradually eradicated through the dynamics of postwar restoration and development. Drastic wartime events may turn cities into areas of devastation, depopulation, and misery but may also generate rapid development and change. In war-stricken areas of the stormy twentieth century, such as Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East, the formation of urban spaces and the shaping of urban landscapes were consequent to interplay between drastic and dynamic processes. Wartime emergencies frequently resulted in a rapid and wide-ranging though ephemeral process of spatial change. Postwar years were times of opportunity for restoration and reshaping. The impact of drastic and dynamic wartime and postwar processes on urban areas is depicted in the case of Tel Aviv–Jaffa during and following the 1948 war.

Converging Subfields and Blurred Borders

Buder, S. — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:20:52 PDT

All the World's New York, All New York's a Stage: Drama, Draft Riots, and Democracy in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Moss, H. — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:20:51 PDT

Sin City or Suburban Crucible? Searching for Meanings in the New Las Vegas

Culver, L. — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:19:16 PDT