The Centre for Urban History (CUH) was established in 1985 and has become a major, international centre for interdisciplinary research and graduate teaching.

Current staff interests include environmental urban history, urban topography from 1700, colonial urban history, urban governance, the production of urban history from the 18th century, oral history, the law and urban property, the history of urban planning, housing and the built environment since 1750, 19th-century provincial towns and their imperial connections, domestic life and leisure, and industrial towns. CUH staff have published 15 books and over 70 articles and chapters in the last five years.

Since its foundation, CUH has raised over £2 million in research grants; one important project has been the East Midlands Oral History Archive, which has realised an archive of more than 2,000 interviews.

Teaching

A core activity of CUH is the teaching of three MA programmes:

• MA in Urban History
• MA in European Urbanisation - in conjunction with the Universities of Berlin, Darmstadt, Dublin and Stockholm
• MA/MSc Urban Conservation - in conjunction with the School of Museum Studies, Department of Geology and Department of Chemistry.

Instruction is by seminar discussion and assessment is mainly by essays and a dissertation.

Research students have their own office space and CUH has a strong record of successful PhD completions in three to four years.

Community

The development of a real community spirit is fostered in CUH, where graduates are encouraged to provide mutual support, to socialise together and to augment their professional expertise by organising their own workshops and seminar series, by taking part in conferences, by teaching and public speaking, by dealing with the press, and by understanding author's copyright and publishing before thesis completion.

Each year CUH welcomes a number of international scholars, normally at post-doctoral and staff levels, usually for a semester. For details see the Visitor Programme.

CUH has excellent study facilities for research students and international visitors: office space, a specialist library and local history collection, weekly seminar programme, workshops and conferences.

Additional activities

The Centre for Urban History provides a hub for British and international activities in terms of on-line resources, publications and conferences for urban historians.

The Centre edits the academic journal, Urban History (published by CUP), and produces an on-line conference diary and monthly newsletter. In addition, it coordinates meetings of the British Urban History Group, and promotes the Pre-Modern Towns Group and European Urban History Association conferences.