The Urban Coast

AY2023/2024 Semester 1

Coastal cities and towns are amongst the most ancient, connected, and vibrant places in global history. This course explores the urban history of coastal regions around the world from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. It will provide you with an understanding of how hinterland, coastal, and maritime spaces shaped urbanization and urban centres on the water's edge, and vice versa. Moving beyond conventional approaches, the course draws on the concepts, concerns, and questions of both traditional fields, such as environmental history and urban history, and new fields, such as coastal history and oceanic history. You will critique concepts and debates at the cutting edge of these various historical fields. The course is aimed at students keen on deepening their conceptual and historical knowledge of cities and towns in coastal regions, commonly referred to as port cities.