The Official Blog of the Urban History Association
By Steven M. Avella I grew up in Sacramento during the 1950s and 1960s. The twin poles of my life were the Catholic Church and the Sacramento Bee. I was a newsboy for the latter for five years (Route #3491—suburban Orangevale). I later became a Catholic priest and a professional historian. I have been teaching […]
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By Amanda DeWilde In 1850, Sacramento became a city…at least on paper. At the start of the decade, Sacramento was without much of what defines a city (and Sacramento in particular). It had no flood or fire control, no police, no jails, no state capital, and no railroads. Among the city’s hundreds of structures there […]
Read MoreVince Furlong Tour Coordinator and Guide, and Volunteer Restoration Exchange Omaha http://www.restorationexchange.org Describe your day job. How does it intersect with urban history? I am mostly retired and did have 17 years as a teacher in my early days – Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and the Omaha metro. You lead guided tours of Omaha. How did you […]
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In Sarah Polley’s 2013 film, “Stories We Tell”, the Canadian filmmaker conducts an exploration of her mother, Diane Polley, who died when the director was 11. Navigating Diane Polley’s history proves more complex and elusive than one might think. “There are many stories to tell, partly because there was nothing neat about Diane Polley, the […]
Read MoreBy Ellie Choi The Visual Experience of Modern Seoul A hyper-focused developmentalism from the Park Chunghee era (1961-1979) onward in South Korea gave rise to the now famous “Miracle on the Han.” It also forged the cosmopolitan expanse of contemporary Seoul, a megapolis of glittering lights, kaleidoscopic signboards, and towering apartment complexes (ap’at’u tanji). […]
Read MoreJim Wunsch Professor, Historical and Educational Studies Empire State College, State University of New York (SUNY) Describe your current research. I am interested in how social and technological changes over the course of the 20th century altered the lives of children. In “The Streetlife of Children in New York City” (Streetnotes, February 2015, 51- […]
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After the Korean War, Seoul, South Korea probably wouldn’t have been listed as an ideal destination for summer travelers. U.S. occupation, the burdens of a civil war that cost nearly 375,000 Korean civilian lives (to say nothing of the 138,000 Korean soldiers who perished), and persistent food shortages amidst the wreckage of conflict did not […]
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By Jieheerah Yun Fast growing metropolises of East Asia, especially those like Shanghai and Shenzhen, are often characterized by forests of skyscrapers and residential towers. For Rem Koolhaas, this development is the future direction of urbanization, and it should be accepted as the condition of “a generic city.”[i] For others, rapid urbanization and the lack […]
Read MoreEllen Hartman Research Landscape Architect, US Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Laboratory Part-time PhD Student, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois Describe your current research. What about it drew your interest? My current research at work covers a few areas, but it’s mostly focused on military aspects of cultural resources management and […]
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By Russell Burge Images of Seoul filter fitfully into American media, and when they do the city often serves as a backdrop for discussions of foreign policy or North-South Korean relations. More rarely do Americans glimpse another aspect of Seoul that South Koreans know all too well: its venerable history as a site of public […]
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The Metropole 