Center for Urban History
Type of activity
Location
Our aims are to enhance international cooperation in research, to explore the possibilities of digital technologies in the humanities, and to rethink the roles of history in modern societies. The сentre’s work pursues several objectives: to research the history of Eastern and Central European cities; to promote urban history in an interdisciplinary format; to foster international academic and cultural exchange; to deepen knowledge and understanding of the complexity and diversity of history and heritage in Eastern and Central European cities; and to enhance cooperation among local and international institutions.
Centre for Urban History is an independent research institution working across several areas: urban history research, digital humanities and archiving, and public history. The centre was founded on April 16, 2004 in Vienna when Dr. Harald Binder established a private foundation with the intent to create an institutional framework for urban history research in Ukraine. One of the main aims for the centre has been developing an infrastructure that would support innovative research endeavors along with public outreach.
Our name presents the two semantic components of who we are and what we do. “Centre” stands for an independent academic entity. Independence remains our reality, our credo and our chief asset. “Urban” stands for our area of proficiency. Our primary focus is the city. “History” at the centre is interdisciplinary, crosses borders and explores new themes and approaches in research, teaching and discourse. Together these words signal our mission to explore and engage with the multitude of questions and experiences embedded in the complexity of urban societies throughout history.
Our aims are to enhance international cooperation in research, to explore the possibilities of digital technologies in the humanities, and to rethink the roles of history in modern societies. The centre’s work has several objectives: to research the history of Eastern and Central European cities; to promote urban history in an interdisciplinary format; to foster international academic and cultural exchange; to deepen knowledge and understanding of the complexity and diversity of history and heritage in Eastern and Central European cities; and to enhance cooperation among local and international institutions.
In all our activities, be they academic or public, we strive to adhere to principles of openness (toward what is new), tolerance (with regard to difference and diversity) and responsibility (for the future). As an institute of historical scholarship, we seek to offer fresh intellectual impulses by asking new questions and exploring new perspectives on urban experiences of the past and today’s challenges. By information and open discussion, we try to help prevent history from being abused for political ends. Through conferences, seminars and exhibitions we hope to promote scholarly and cultural exchange. We strive to be a part of contemporary Lviv's urban society and public, open to diverse communities and in productive cooperation with public and cultural institutions. As an institute that not only researches the city of the past, but also lives and works in the city of the present, we want to go beyond academic activity and support cultural and other public initiatives, which we see as both valuable and seminal. We want to contribute to Lviv becoming a central site for intellectual, academic and cultural life not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe.
Digital technologies have been an indispensable part of research and public history projects since the founding of the centre. We are using digital tools in history research and its visualization. A key project on visualization of historical narratives about the city with the help of a map is an online encyclopedia Lviv Interactive. Additionally, we are digitizing and archiving audiovisual sources related to the history of Lviv and other cities in the region, which have been collected within the project Urban Media Archive.