CFP for the session Session: “Knowledge in Interurban Transit. Networks, Actors, and Agencies”

 CFP for the session Session: “Knowledge in Interurban Transit. Networks, Actors, and Agencies” (Session 57) at the Conference of the European Association for Urban History in Barcelona, September, 2-5, 2026

We are calling for papers for our session: “Knowledge in Interurban Transit. Networks, Actors, and Agencies” (Session 57) at the Conference of the European Association for Urban History in Barcelona, September, 2–5, 2026.

Organizers: Heidi Hein-Kircher (Herne/Bochum) and Oliver Hochadel (Barcelona)

The urban space of the modern city was characterized by a high concentration of short-distance relations, multi-directional exchanges within and the acceleration of movement and communication. This session focusses on interurban knowledge exchange and its networks in 19th and 20th century. The “densification” within the city and the numerous social challenges were instrumental for the development of new fields of “applied urban knowledge” such as urban planning, hygiene and cultural infrastructures so that the inherent dynamic of the urban space and the production of applied urban knowledge entered a dialectic relationship.

Hence, knowledge became key for urban development. Disregarding national borders, urban reformers in different cities became increasingly aware that they were facing similar problems with respect to public health and urban planning. Many city councils reached out to other cities all over Europe or even globally in order to modernize their own city. Such solutions were sought after in the form of “best practices” from other urban contexts, which were considered as “recipes for success”. This distinctly pragmatic approach also promised to avoid errors that had been committed elsewhere, while being “late” or “backward” might turn out to be advantageous, and could be used by reformers rhetorically as political leverage to demand new technologies or urban planning concepts. Urban knowledge was permanently altered, combined, hybridized and adapted to fit the specific needs and circumstances of a city.

After the mid-nineteenth century, an interurban network emerged in Europe (and beyond) in which urban knowledge in its different forms was being constantly exchanged. The exchange of urban ideas, strategies and models for modernization needs to be addressed on a global scale.

This leads us to the central questions of our session:

Which models did cities try to follow in their reforms?

How did they inform themselves about the newest advances in, say, tuberculosis treatment or museum architecture? How was this applied urban knowledge produced, communicated and appropriated? What were the factors for success of failure?

Who were the relevant actors in this interurban knowledge exchange network?

Hence, our session calls for empirical case studies discussing the actors and their agencies as well as the created networks of interurban network of knowledge exchange in Europe and beyond.

All paper proposal should be submitted via the website https://eauh2026.confnow.eu/?pagename=extpapersubmission until October 22, 2025.

In any case, please inform us, the organizers, about your submission. And please do not hesitate to contact us for any question or doubt you might have. We plan to edit a special issue in a peer-reviewed journal based on the presentations of the session.

Contact Information

Heidi Hein-Kircher

Martin Opitz Library, Herne and Ruhr University Bochum

heidi.hein-kircher@ruhr-uni-bochum.de

Oliver Hochadel

Institución Milá y Fontanals de Investigación en Humanidades (CSIC), Barcelona

oliver.hochadel@imf.csic.es

Contact Email

heidi.hein-kircher@ruhr-uni-bochum.de

URL

https://eauh2026.confnow.eu/?pagename=extpapersubmission