Urban planning and the physical development of towns

Urban planning is a natural subject for urban historical studies. The subject allows the researcher to take a closer look on the interaction between idea and reality. The subject makes it visible how towns develop, who has the necessary influence, and which forces have been dominant at different times. During the years the centre has cooperated with Byplanhistorisk Udvalg under Dansk Byplanlaboratorium (the Town-planning Committee under Danish Laboratory for Urban Planning), which has lead to joint seminars and publications, for instance about urban historical cartography and about the writing of the modern town’s history. An important contribution is also Jeppe Norskov Stokholm’s PhD dissertation Den moderne byplanlægnings fødsel i Danmark 1860 til 1920 (The birth of the modern town planning in Denmark, 1860 to 1920). Other contributions are theses, where Kristian Buhl Thomsen’s thesis Sådan skabtes det moderne Viborg - En analyse af byplanlægningen, boligudviklingen og bosætningsmønstrene 1938-1974 (How the modern Viborg was created – An analysis of the urban planning, the development of housing and the settlement patterns, 1938-1974) deserves mentioning. It has been published in Fra Viborg-egnen 2009.

Related to the subject is also Peter Dragsbo’s book Hvem opfandt parcelhuskvarteret? Forstaden har en historie (The invention of Suburbia), of which the centre was a co-publisher. Also Søren Bitsch Christensen’s article “Branding Bernhard” in the book Århus i verden (Aarhus in the world) should be mentioned.