The Seventeenth Conference of the European Association for Urban History (EAUH) will be held in Barcelona from Wednesday 2 September to Saturday 5 September 2026.

The central theme of the conference is ‘City Networks in Europe and Beyond’, although it covers all themes, periods and regions within urban history. City networks have been of as much strategic significance in the past as they are in the present. Although the history of Europe is often identified with states and nations, it is largely the history of its networked cities. This is clearly evident in Barcelona, a major medieval centre in the Mediterranean, which also took the lead in the great leap forward of the industrial age, with crucial links to other cities, and that regained this role in post-Franco period.

Cities and interurban links have contributed as much or more than states to the shaping of Europe and its reach beyond the continent, particularly in terms of colonial relations. The concept of network has become widespread in many disciplines and can create meaningful relationships between the past and the present of Europe and the wider world.

With its focus on cities and the networked urban world, the Seventeenth EAUH Conference also aims to foster cross-fertilisation between history, geography and other social and environmental sciences, all of which are critical sources of knowledge for the preservation of contemporary democratic culture.

EAUH 2026 is hosted by the Facultat de Geografia i Història, University of Barcelona (UB), the Vallès School of Architecture (ESTAV) and the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB).

See HERE for full details.