The Official Blog of the Urban History Association
By Anna Rose The night before the explosion, the air in San Juanico felt heavy and hot, as though it was boiling. But that feeling was nothing new. The residents of San Juanico, a neighborhood on the northern outskirts of Mexico City, had long lived with hot, stagnant air and the pungent smell of gas. […]
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By Zehra Betül Atasoy One night in 1910, a woman named Şükrüye was accused of wandering through a burned neighborhood in Istanbul with unidentified men. Her alleged offense was not a clearly defined criminal act, but rather her presence in a fire-ravaged urban space at night, in the company of men whose identities remained unknown. […]
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Catastrophe has long shaped cities. Calamities have come in many forms and for varying durations; they have inflicted great costs in lives, suffering, and wealth. Different sorts of urban disasters—terrorist attacks, floods, earthquakes, diseases—have elicited different responses, policy prescriptions, and behaviors. Cities cannot be reduced to capital flows; they are more than built environment. “[T]hey […]
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The Metropole 