Imagining Microplaces: From Medieval into the Present
Lecture by Catherine Clarke
Given at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, on March 16, 2022
Abstract: Placing our histories is always key to understanding the past. But what happens if we focus in at the smallest scale: on a specific street or square, a doorway, tree or vantage-point – a microplace? The recent AHRC-funded project ‘Towns and the Cultural Economies of Recovery’ (on which Catherine was Co-Investigator) highlighted the importance of ‘microplace’ and the ‘hyper-local’ to understanding our towns and cities – and to sustaining their futures. This lecture will draw on a range of Catherine’s place-based projects to explore how thinking through microplace might open up new possibilities for historians, bringing together research, imagination, and varied tools for immersive, experiential analysis and interpretation. This lecture will be of interest to anyone working on place, heritage and regeneration, resonating with the work of York’s own brilliant new project on Coney Street and its stories.
Professor Catherine Clarke is Director of the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community at the Institute of Historical Research. Click here to visit her institute webpage or follow Catherine on Twitter @CathAMClarke
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Great #microplace workshop with @yorkmedieval students today. Your #medieval micro-vignettes were amazing! But just realised I was so enthralled, I missed our final slide/activity 👇! Sorry – would have been especially relevant for the York Street Life project. Thank you all! pic.twitter.com/skrK0swc25
Imagining Microplaces: From Medieval into the Present
Lecture by Catherine Clarke
Given at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, on March 16, 2022
Abstract: Placing our histories is always key to understanding the past. But what happens if we focus in at the smallest scale: on a specific street or square, a doorway, tree or vantage-point – a microplace? The recent AHRC-funded project ‘Towns and the Cultural Economies of Recovery’ (on which Catherine was Co-Investigator) highlighted the importance of ‘microplace’ and the ‘hyper-local’ to understanding our towns and cities – and to sustaining their futures. This lecture will draw on a range of Catherine’s place-based projects to explore how thinking through microplace might open up new possibilities for historians, bringing together research, imagination, and varied tools for immersive, experiential analysis and interpretation. This lecture will be of interest to anyone working on place, heritage and regeneration, resonating with the work of York’s own brilliant new project on Coney Street and its stories.
Professor Catherine Clarke is Director of the Centre for the History of People, Place and Community at the Institute of Historical Research. Click here to visit her institute webpage or follow Catherine on Twitter @CathAMClarke
Click here to learn more about the Towns and the Cultural Economies of Recovery project
Top Image: Coney Street, York – photo by Keith Laverack / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Wikimedia Commons
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