Urban Agency Network

The Centre for Urban History at the University of Antwerp (CSG) is the core group of the Scientific Research Community (WOG) ‘Urban Agency: Setting the Research Agenda of Urban History’, funded by the Scientific Research Council of Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen).

Starting from fundamental questions on the urban nature of major societal transformations we focus on major themes in Urban History in order to assess and subsequently deepen its potential as a discipline. These themes of economy, ecology, migration and civil society will be elaborated in several international workshops while critically addressing the impact of modernity narratives in European urban history.

This will result in a new, multi-authored history of modern Europe (1500-2000)  in four volumes, reflecting the current state of research in the field.

The series will be co-edited by Simon Gunn (Centre for Urban History, Leicester) and Bert De Munck (Centre for Urban History, Antwerp). Below are the working titles of the books and the editorial teams.

  1. Unscrewing the creative city: The historical fabrication of cities as agents of economic innovation and creativity
    Bruno Blondé, Andrew Miles and Ilja Van Damme
  2. The urbanization of nature. Environmental narratives, technologies and power in the city
    Dieter Schott, Michael Toyka-Seid and Tim Soens
  3. Migration policies and the materiality of identification in European cities
    Hilde Greefs and Anne Winter
  4. Urban Governance and Civil Society
    Bert De Munck, Simon Gunn and Roey Sweet