School of Humanities  
 
 
HIS-30118 Urban Lives in Modern Europe, 1890-1914  
Co-ordinator: Dr Benjamin Anderson   Tel:33611  
Teaching Team: Miss Amanda  Roberts, Mrs Christine  Edge, Miss Jo-Anne  Watts  
Lecture Time: See Timetable...  
Level: 3 Credits: 15 Study Hours: 150  
School Office: Tel: 01782 733147
 
 
 
Programme/Approved Electives for
History Dual Honours (Level 3)
History Major (Level 3)
History Minor (Level 3)
Available as a Free Standing Elective
No
Barred Combinations
None
Prerequisites
None
Description

For most of continental Europe, the rapid urbanisation of the late-nineteenth century presented radical new challenges to states, local elites and intellectuals. How should these new urban societies be governed? How can the quality of life in cities be improved? Who should have responsibility for managing which urban space? These were the questions posed by people living in the chaotically expanding cities of late-nineteenth-century Western Europe - London, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, and a whole host of smaller cities, towns and suburbs. Their solutions included eugenic policies, town planning, social reform and a whole host of fitness regimes, and have been blamed for National Socialist disaster, as well as heralding the welfare states and closely regulated spaces that characterise European cities today.

This module will explore how and why competing ways of defining urban problems emerged, and the development of new solutions in the years before World War One. We will examine new ways of thinking about cities and urban living from three angles $ú the intellectuals who identified urban problems at the turn-of-the-century, the planners, architects and social reformers who put themselves forward as those best placed to provide solutions, and the ways in which the urban experience was structured through new technologies of press, consumption and regulation.
Aims
To introduce students to the history of the city in early-twentieth-century Europe; to critically assess and use theories of space in a historical context; to consider the interaction between changing urban experiences, new definitions of urban problems, and technical solutions in urban cultures; to critically interrogate the usefulness of archival materials and of different primary sources.
Intended Learning Outcomes
recognise and explain competing debates about urban life, the emergence and development of proposed solutions, and their relationship to the urban experience will be achieved by assessments: 1, 3
critically appraise the potential and challenges of writing urban (as opposed to national) histories will be achieved by assessments: 1, 3
Show an awareness of the relationship between space and power in an urban context

will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
Show an appreciation of integrating different primary sources in historical analysis
will be achieved by assessments: 1, 2, 3
Demonstrate archival research skills will be achieved by assessments: 2
Study hours
Ten, two-hour seminars = 20 hours
Seminar preparation = 60 hours
Assessment preparation = 70 hours
Description of Module Assessment
01: Essay weighted 40%
One, 2000-word essay
Students will be asked to discuss at least one theory of space in the context of one of the topics on the module (or an agreed suggestion). Questions will be devised in consultation with the tutor.
02: Exercise weighted 20%
Document exercise
Two discussions of at least two primary sources. One primary source per discussion to be drawn from a list of eight provided, and one primary source per discussion drawn from the Sociological Review Archive. 500 words each.
03: Unseen Exam weighted 40%
Two-hour unseen examination
Students will be asked to address two essay questions from a choice of six.
Version: (1.06B) Updated: 03/Oct/2013

This document is the definitive current source of information about this module and supersedes any other information.