The State of Urban History in Canada

Abstract

Canadian urban history had a golden age in the 1970s and early 1980s. Since then, considering only those researchers who consider themselves to be urbanists, its presence and influence has waned. National conferences are no longer held and edited collections of national scope no longer published. Fewer researchers who are doing research on cities in the past consider themselves to be urbanists and, in contrast with the earlier period, these are almost exclusively historians. The decline in Canada is in contrast with the situation in the United Kingdom and the United States, partly because of differences in national geography and in the salience of urban issues, and partly because of a smaller pool of academics and the lack of an institutional base. The immediate future offers few signs of change.