Towards the Modern City: People, Spatiality and Social Change, 1850–2000
This course is offered by the Department of History as a part of the Doctoral School in the Humanities. The course is offered during the spring semester of 2027 and on campus.
Stockholmskallan.stockholm.se/post/1902
Course Content
The course explores the transformation of European cities and urban environments from the mid-nineteenth century to the turn of the twenty-first century. Its central theme is the emergence and development of the modern city as both a built structure and a lived environment. Through five seminars and two excursions in Stockholm, the course examines key processes that shaped urban change, including industrialisation, welfare reform, urban planning, municipal expansion, automobilism, deregulation, and commodification.
The course is intended for doctoral students in the humanities whose research engages with themes such as urban history, urban planning, urban studies, spatial planning, environmental history, and sustainable development. The seminars address the rise of the industrial city, the social question, the welfare city, the planned city, the city in relation to the Swedish welfare state, and the neoliberal city. The excursions connect these themes to the urban landscape of Stockholm, with particular attention to social institutions, spatial organisation, and the changing use of urban space during the twentieth century.
Teaching is based on active seminar participation, preparatory written papers, presentations, and discussion. The course concludes with a longer essay in which students develop and summarise a relevant perspective of their choice. In this way, the course provides doctoral students with historical knowledge, theoretical perspectives, and analytical tools for understanding urban development in a European context.
Last updated: 2026-09-12
Source: Office of Human Science