Introduction

Abstract

The idea for this special issue, exploring the history of cities and urbanism within the emerging transnational paradigm, originated in a discussion among the members of the North American Editorial Board ofUrban Historyabout what it means for cities to be global. Veering in many directions, spanning multiple centuries and stretching into much of the world, the conversation touched on the movement of people and ideas, the relationship of urban areas with their hinterlands and with each other, the importance of given technologies and industries for particular forms of urban development, the critical role of politics – at all levels – in that development and the ongoing and evolving role of global capital on those cities. Using the global Internet, members of the North American Editorial Board located in Montreal (Michèle Dagenais), Rochester (Victoria Wolcott), Irvine (Jeffrey Wasserstrom), Philadelphia (Lynn Hollen Lees), Miami (Robin Bachin), Mexico City (Hira de Gortari Rabiela), Hamilton (Richard Harris), Los Angeles (Philip Ethington and Janice Reiff), Amherst (Max Page) and Ann Arbor (Matthew Lassiter) generated a plan to issue a global call for papers for the IXth International Conference of the European Association for Urban History in Lyon, France in August of 2008. Nine scholars from Canada, the United States, France and Mexico pre-circulated their papers for a special bilingual double-long session, co-chaired by Michèle Dagenais and Phil Ethington.