Urban space is changing dramatically during the nineteenth century. The innovative morphology of cities includes new gardens and parks open to the public; the new large boulevards and the rail network criss-cross the city; extraordinary monuments are erected (the Eiffel Tower, for example); museums, theaters and opera houses spring up; department stores are emerging, electricity invades the shop windows; publicity, with posters and billboards spread all over the city walls.
This urban mutation induces new behaviors: the plein air enters painting, alongside new concepts of health, as well as of leisure, such as lunch on the grass, boating on sundays; sport gets imported into the city (cycling, for instance); consumers adopt feverishly the new trade as well as cafes, art galleries, popular dance and universal exhibitions. Another important aspect of this urban modernity is also reflected in its ability to project into other cities from very different traditions, such as Cairo or Jerusalem.
This conference will analyze the urban culture of the nineteenth century in its many forms. It is thus resolutely interdisciplinary and welcomes researchers from different backgrounds. The conference languages are French and English.
We welcome proposals on any aspect of the conference theme, particularly (but not limited to) the following:
- the artistic impact of the new city: painting, photography, posters…
- the literary impact of the new city
- nineteenth century new urbanism
- new urban shopping: department stores, shops, stalls
- dissemination of European new urban schemes to cities of the New World and the Middle East
- the sprawling city/the town and its suburbs
- urban leisure
- myths and legends of the New Town
- from the city to the megapolis
- gardens, parks, squares
- urban transport: train, diligence, bus, cycling
- urban utopia/s
The conference' proceedings will be published in the e-journal Le Bulletin du CRFJ.
Abstracts in English or French, no longer than 250 words, should be sent until 20 December 2014 to: Shoshana-Rose Marzel, shoshi@marzel.com or Julien Loiseau julien.loiseau@crfj.org.il