Cities have long been an important setting of encounter and exchange between different religions, ethnic communities, social classes, and political movements. At the same time, the major currents of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – capitalism and revolution, religious revival and secularism, colonialism and nationalism – exerted a formidable pressure on the modern city as a stie of encounter. As new political movements emerged and rigid collective identities coalesced, the city became the arena in which new rivalries and antagonisms were played out. Looking at different cities along the shores of the Mediterranean, this seminar explores the various, often conflicting dynamics of coexistence, protest, and violence in the modern age.

In historiography, the twentieth century is often regarded as a century of planning. This is probably best expressed by urban planning which has become a standard practice and an important political field in all parts of the globe. This seminar explores the global history of urban planning in the twentieth century, focusing in particular on the close link between social and urban planning. Our central question will be how (utopian) ideas of social development have interacted with urban planning visions. A special focus in this seminar will be on colonial urban planning in Africa and Asia.

Participants can take the examination in either German or English.