Portrait of North American Urban Historians

A survey of members of the Urban History Association (UHA) undertaken in March 2017 provides information about the character, views, and prospects of urban history in North America. Most UHA members are professional historians. Their age profile is balanced; women and minorities are underrepresented, though their age profile indicates that members will become more diverse. They are researching cities around the world, but focus mainly on the larger U.S. cities. Thematically, their main interests are in planning/design, race/ethnicity, politics, and housing, in that order. Most situate their work on U.S. cities within a national frame of reference; only half believe that there is something distinctively urban about cities. Those who do tend to highlight social, political, and cultural, as opposed to economic, effects. Their intellectual influences are primarily other urban historians rather than more theoretically oriented writers.