CALL FOR PAPERS

URBAN JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABILITY
August 22–25, 2007
Vancouver, Canada

The Department of Sociology and The Urban Studies Program,
University of British Columbia
&
International Sociological Association Research Committee 21 on Sociology of Urban and Regional Development

Session: The Centrality of Urban History in Sociology: The Case of 19th Century Britain

The injustices or ‘costs’ of urban development have for almost 175 years been written about, albeit initially in the context of sanitary improvement and ‘the slum question’. Central to this literary process was the growth of British urban sociology and medical enquiries that utilized social surveys, quantitative statistical analysis and empirical results in order to edify public opinion and identify ‘black-spots’ in the spatial and psychological cognitive schemata of Victorian settlements. The emergence of public health reports by the likes of medical practitioners and civil servants, such as Thomas Southwood Smith, William Farr and Edwin Chadwick, were thus not only vital components in cementing the correlation between poverty, disease, the environment – key elements in modern ‘sustainable’ thinking – but in the foundation of modern sociology. In light of past and contemporary parallels relating to assessment of the urban situ this proposal for conference shall attempt to solicit the position of urban historical sociology within the evolution of debates cantering upon social justice and sustainability.

Please send expressions of interest relating to the role or impact of urban historical studies within urban sociology as soon as possible. Abstracts (about 200 words in length) can be sent to Ian Morley prior to the end of April 2007.