Critical and scholarly interest in the city continues to grow, across several academic disciplines. As both material and discursive construct, the city engages social, economic, religious, and political historians; historicist and materialist literary critics; historians of art and architecture; archaeologists; and social theorists. The range, complexity, and implications of the work that has emerged indicate that it is time now to take stock, and to re-focus our collective study.

We welcome papers, from across the humanities and social sciences, on any aspect of the city in Europe, including the British Isles, at any period between 1400 and 1900. In addition to papers that treat sociopolitical, economic, cultural, religious, material, or physical aspects of the city, we also invite papers that theorize the pre-20thC European city or that theorize interdisciplinary approaches to the city, as well as papers that consider the challenges facing the researcher removed, not only in time, but also in space, from archival and material sources. Papers should be 20 minutes in length for 3 person panels.

The conference will take place on 1-2 October, 2004. Keynote speakers will be Professor Christopher Friedrichs, University of British Columbia and Professor Judith Walkowitz, Johns Hopkins University.