The Center for Urban History
Photo credit: The Center for Urban History
The Center for Urban History is an independent research institution working since 2004 in Lviv, Ukraine. Our mission is to foster international cooperation and innovation in research, experiment with the possibilities of digital technologies in the humanities, and rethink the roles of history in modern societies through public history and educational projects. In all its activities, be they academic or public, the Center strives to adhere to principles of openness (toward what is new), tolerance (with regard to difference and diversity), and responsibility (for the future).
People and Partnerships
Our team brings together thirty-two people representing different disciplines, including history, sociology, cultural and media studies, as well as management and administration. Most of our projects are realized as joint initiatives, creating lasting ties with a variety of academic, educational, and cultural institutions, including universities, research centers, archives, libraries, museums, galleries, and non-governmental organizations across Ukraine and internationally.
The Center’s academic activities have diverse formats, including research projects grouped around several thematic focuses, conferences and workshops, seminars, teaching, summer schools, lectures, presentations, and round tables. These activities involve researchers working at and affiliated with the Center, as well as scholars and experts from different disciplines. Reflecting the complexities of urban experiences, our research projects come from several disciplines, including history, sociology, urban studies, history of architecture, visual studies, and digital humanities covering the period from the 19th century until today.
Since 2022, the Center has also been working on a set of projects to document ongoing war experiences in Ukraine. With the strong institutional support of our international partners, it became possible to start the projects on collecting visual documentation, Telegram and web-archiving, and on ego-documents, such as oral testimonies, diaries and dreams. Furthermore, the Center co-organizes an annual international symposium that brings together about 180 participants.
Digital Projects
The Center develops and offers digital resources for researchers, educators and anyone interested in the history of Lviv, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe:
- Urban Media Archive makes digitally accessible historical sources (images, films, maps, oral history interviews) about urban life in Central and Eastern Europe in the 19th-21st centuries.
- REESOURCES: Rethinking Eastern Europe, a repository of translated primary sources to teach and learn about the region.
- Interactive Lviv, a digital encyclopedia of the city’s history through entangled stories of people and spaces.
These digital projects also serve as a space for searching for formats and offer the possibility of running experiments in digital humanities.
From the very beginning, the Center for Urban History has led and participated in practical discussions on the role of history in society: on the forms, formats, and various methods of engaging with the past, particularly in urban settings. Public outreach, which is always a key part of our agenda, was specifically designated as a public history program in 2014. Through a variety of formats – lectures, exhibitions, movie screenings, etc. – the public program at the Center raises the broader question of how historical cultures are shaped. Key ideas motivating many of the Center’s public activities include how to ask big questions locally, and how to unite a variety of local perspectives, not into a single shared narrative but into a dynamic conversation and a culture of pluralism.
Thinking with the City: 20 Years of the Center for Urban History (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CkE2WFm_ZQ
Website: https://www.lvivcenter.org/en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CenterForUrbanHistory
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/center.for.urban.history
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@lvivcentermedia
Email for contacts and cooperation: info@lvivcenter.org