The aim of these workshops is to analyse urban institutions of welfare and their role for the urban political culture in a long historical perspective. Today, the term welfare is linked to state politics in 20th century, in particular when it comes to the Nordic states. However, the history of welfare is older; it was since the Middle Ages organized locally, as a part of a social contract or an obligation that social and religious institutions organized. These institutions were mostly situated in urban settlements, creating a specific urban political culture based on the changing interactions between institutions like the municipal government, central government, private profit-oriented agents (merchants, landowners, entrepreneurs) and various actors from social and religious institutions.

If you are interested in the topics of this series of workshops, if you want to participate with an own paper, please send a short (10-20 lines) abstract, a title and your name with affiliation until April 16, 2023, in order to allow us planning the workshops in detail as well as applying for funding.