Střed | Centre, 2/2021 – Call for Papers
Issue topic: The City – A Laboratory of Changes
Deadline for submissions: June 30th, 2021
Contact: stred@mua.cas.cz
Languages of publication: Czech, English, German
Journal website: https://www.mua.cas.cz/en/stred-centre-journal-for-interdisciplinary-studies-of-central-europe-in-the-19th-and-20th-centuries-323
Full content of the journal: www.ceeol.com
Abstracts: http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl
Indexing: ERIH+, SCOPUS, CEEEOL, CEJSH, EBSCO
Today, most of the world’s population lives in cities, which dominate the world economically as well as lead it in the consumption of natural resources. Historically, many processes and ideas that we consider to be part of our civilization – in the economy, our system of government, education, or even in our private family lives – first began to take shape in urban environments. At the same time, the most serious challenges took root in large cities.
From the perspective of the humanities and the social sciences, cities represent a valuable framework for research since they are spatially clearly defined and historically shaped areas with specific daily rhythms and long-term development cycles. They make it possible to observe and research both current processes and their historic roots and the changes and reactions to them. Cities can thus be understood as a “laboratory” where the serious problems and questions of the modern era can be analyzed.
This issue of Střed | Centre calls for papers on topics from the field of urban history. Using new empirical examples from 19th and 20th century Central Europe, they shall analyze old and new research topics and methods, including frequently called-for interdisciplinarity, and discuss the current state and need for historical research on modern cities.
The issue will include the following topics:
- external and internal borders of modern cities, their shifts and blurring; social-spatial inequalities,
- the influence of architecture, urbanism, and technology on urban mental and communication maps,
- major political transformations and their manifestation at the city level,
- cities as bearers of specific political strategies; urban activism,
- the city as a target of expert interventions, planning, and social engineering,
- cities facing global crises.