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Urban History For Planners, Carl Abbott

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article analyzes the conceptual and historiographic differences between the closely related fields of urban history and planning history. It reviews the origins of urban history as a distinct field and argues that work in urban history falls into three broad categories dealing with civic life, individual and group relations, and the physical evolution of urban places. It identifies topics that are particularly fruitful and generate new scholarship, and suggests ways in which each of these realms of urban history raises questions of relevance to urban planning and urban policy.