ABSTRACT

Challenging current perspectives of urbanisation, The Routledge History Handbook of Gender and the Urban Experience explores how our towns and cities have shaped and been shaped by cultural, spatial and gendered influences. This volume discusses gender in an urban context in European, North American and colonial towns from the fourteenth to the twentieth century, casting new light on the development of medieval and modern settlements across the globe.

Organised into six thematic parts covering economy, space, civic identity, material culture, emotions and the colonial world, this book comprises 36 chapters by key scholars in the field. It covers a wide range of topics, from women and citizenship in medieval York to gender and tradition in nineteenth- and twentieth-century South African cities, reframing our understanding of the role of gender in constructing the spaces and places that form our urban environment.

Interdisciplinary and transnational in scope, this volume analyses the individual dynamics of each case study while also examining the complex relationships and exchanges between urban cultures. It is a valuable resource for all researchers and students interested in gender, urban history and their intersection and interaction throughout the past five centuries.

chapter |6 pages

Gender and the Urban Experience

Introduction

part I|77 pages

Economy, Circulations and Exchanges

chapter |3 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|10 pages

Patterns of Transmission and Urban Experience

When Gender Matters

chapter 3|14 pages

Toleration, Liberty and Privileges

Gender and Commerce in Eighteenth-Century European Towns

part II|77 pages

Space, Place and Environment

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

chapter 8|13 pages

Mapping the Spaces of Seduction

Morality, Gender and the City in Early Nineteenth-Century Britain

chapter 9|14 pages

Painting the Town

Portrayals of Change in Urban Riversides, London and the Thames, a Case Study

chapter 10|12 pages

Modernity and Madrid

The Gendered Urban Geography of Carmen de Burgos’ La rampa

part III|80 pages

Civic Identity and Political Culture

chapter |3 pages

Introduction

chapter 15|14 pages

‘We Had a Row on the Politics of the Day’

Gender and Political Sociability of the Elites in Stockholm, c. 1770–1800

chapter 17|12 pages

Negotiating Respectable Citizenship

Homosexual Emancipation Struggles in Early Twentieth-Century Copenhagen

chapter 18|12 pages

Voting as an Act of Estate or Voting as an Act of Class?

Voting Women in Swedish Towns, c. 1720–1920

part IV|76 pages

Material Culture in Gendered Urban Settings

chapter |3 pages

Introduction

chapter 20|12 pages

The Changing Objects of Civic Devotion

Gender, Politics and Votive Commissions in a Late Medieval Dalmatian Confraternity

chapter 21|12 pages

Caring and Healing

Women, Bodies and Materiality in Nineteenth-Century French Cities

chapter 22|13 pages

Architectural Language and Mistranslations

A Comparative Global Approach to Women’s Urban Spaces

chapter 23|13 pages

Shoes and the City

Shoes and Their Sphere of Influence in Early America, 1740–1789

chapter 24|12 pages

Gendering the Automobile

Men, Women and the Car in Helsinki, 1900–1930

part V|76 pages

Intimacy and Emotion

chapter |4 pages

Introduction

chapter 25|11 pages

Shaping London Merchant Identities

Emotions, Reputation and Power in the Court of Chancery

chapter 26|13 pages

Love Thy Neighbour?

The Gendered, Emotional and Spatial Production of Charity and Poverty in Sixteenth-Century France

chapter 28|12 pages

Emotions, Gender and the Body

The Case of Nineteenth-Century German Spa Towns

chapter 29|11 pages

Feeling Modern on the Russian Street

From Desire to Despair

chapter 30|12 pages

Risk! Pleasure! Affirmation!

Navigating Queer Urban Spaces in Twentieth-Century Scotland

part VI|79 pages

The Colonial Town

chapter |3 pages

Introduction

chapter 32|12 pages

Gender in Batavia

Asian City, European Company Town

chapter 33|14 pages

Cities at Sea

Gender and Sexuality in the Eighteenth-Century British Colonial City, Philadelphia, Kingston, Madras and Calcutta