European Association of Urban Historians
European cities : Networks and crossroads, Fifth international Conference on Urban History

Villes europiennes : riseaux et carrefours, 5e confirence internationale d'histoire urbaine

Call for paper :
In State of Emergency: Cities and Catastrophes
Major Session, Early Modern and Modern History - chair :

- Genevieve Massard-Guilbaud (University Blaise-Pascal, Clermont-Ferrand, France)

- Harold L. Platt (Loyola University of Chicago, USA)

- Dieter Schott (Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany)

Urban civilization can be considered in the long run as the attempt to create specific living conditions in an restricted environment which protect urban dwellers against the hazards and dangers both of nature and of human enemies. As history shows time and time again, however, this safeguard has never been fully realized. Cities have recurrently suffered not only natural disasters such as earthquakes and storms, but also catastrophes caused by humans such as deadly conflagrations from arson and killer fogs from pollution. Moreover, an increasing number of urban calamities in recent times can be attributed to efforts to engineer the environment that have produced unintended (even if sometimes foreseeable) consequences such as bursting dams, floods, and epidemics caused by faulty sanitation systems. Under the assumption that urban areas around the world in the 21st century will become subject to these kinds of disasters in growing numbers and severity (climate changes, rising sea levels, polluted waters), this session will deal with the historical experience of cities in Europe and North America since the 16th century. Urban catastrophes put societies at a crossroads, forcing them to re-examine their past and future directions. These states of emergency also raised fundamental questions about the natural and artificial networks of urban areas that helped compose regions and nations. Calamities in individual localities and responses to them did not take place in isolation but were experienced within these larger webs of interdependence. Confronted with situations drastically different from normal routines and obliged to react with urgency, cities in crisis drew upon the collective memory of previous urban catastrophes. They also put the solidarity of inter-urban networks to the test.

The session wants to address the following particular problems:

1. Understanding catastrophe

What were the popular concepts of "catastrophe," and how did these change over time and place? How have the definitions of "catastrophe" been distinguished from the more ordinary notions of "accident" and "damage"? Were there alternative local interpretations of the origins and meanings of these different events at the moment of urban crises? How did the particular catastrophe figure in the public consciousness? What were the cultural ingredients in the social construction of urban disasters and how were they perceived or denied? Did memories of particular calamities and their impact on the history of a city change over time and how can we explain this change?

2. Experiencing catastrophe

How did urban populations and individual urbanites actually live through and experience catastrophes? How were the losses of life and the damages distributed among the urban population? In cases of recurrent crises, how did communities adapt to them? Were there any institutionalized or professionalized preparations and safeguards against catastrophes (fire brigades, flood patrols)? And what kinds of sources do we have at our disposal to answer these questions?

3. Managing catastrophe

Who, which actors and agencies, was in charge of dealing with catastrophes? What was the relationship between voluntary and official relief efforts within cities, and between affected localities and outsiders? Did the various local groups responding to the disaster fulfill their tasks, and what caused others to intervene? Did catastrophes set off crises of legitimacy resulting in changes in power within cities or larger political entities? Did these changes have a long term effect?

4. Relieving catastrophe

How were the immediate effects of catastrophe overcome? Was outside assistance (state, region, general voluntary fund-raising) mobilized? How was relief organized and distributed? Who financed the relief, repair, and recovery efforts? Was equity or injustice embedded in the distribution of relief, and the plans of reconstruction?

5. Exploiting catastrophe - catastrophe as opportunity

Considering the fact that urban structures frequently developed in ways no longer appreciated by contemporaries, papers should therefore address the question of how far catastrophes could be and actually were perceived as opportunities to give urban development new directions, to correct past wrongs and problems. Moreover, how far did catastrophes contribute to significant political and social changes which had been long due but deferred until needs for relief and reconstruction forced the creation of new agendas. And when "natural" disasters had in fact been caused by following flawed policies such as building in areas liable to flooding, how well were their lessons learnt and incorporated into the formation of future policies.