With apologies to those who have received this through the MEMS email list, just reposting here in case!
CMRC STUDY DAY
People, Space and the City
Online event
Wednesday 26 May
This interdisciplinary study day is dedicated to the urban world and, more particularly, to the forces and dynamics that shaped urban spaces, cultures and identities in pre-modern societies (c. 500- c. 1700). The role that municipal authorities played in organising urban life and space is, arguably, as important as the response and engagement of the people living under their rule. This study day takes a broad view, exploring both the ‘organised’ and the ‘self-organising’, the civic and the organic, elements of the urban environment. We will consider the role that political and civic governance played in shaping the urban world from above and the impact of personal agency among the ruled in influencing the urban world from below. Likewise, we will consider the interface between the centre and the periphery of the urban space, expanding our view beyond the town centre to those who occupied the world between the urban and the rural. The study day will conclude with the 2021 Reuter Lecture, this year to be delivered by Professor Catherine Clarke (Institute of Historical Research).
We welcome any proposal that engages with People, Space and the City in the pre-modern world, including, but not limited to, papers on the themes of:
• The evolution of urban space
• Organisation vs self-organisation in urban environments
• Civic rule, politics and governance
• Religious governance and spiritual guidance in urban spaces
• Urban economics, finances and commercial structures
• Civic and non-civic identities
• The centre and the periphery in urban spaces and beyond
• The live experience of urban communities
• The development of urban culture
• Urban architecture and (the limits of) civic planning
• The materiality of urban spaces
If you would like to deliver a paper please email Dr Rémy Ambühl (ra4c09@soton.ac.uk), by Friday 26 February.