Based on empirical studies, this book investigates the particular urban history of the North from the 17th century until today in a comparative, Northern perspective. Urban Life in Nordic Countries is the result of a conference on "Urbanity in the Periphery" held in Stockholm on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Institute of Urban History at Stockholm University, aimed at establishing the field of the urban history of the North and creating a network of urban historians of the North. With a broad range of contributions from Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Estonia, the volume seeks to further discourse on the region within national and transnational lenses, and to highlight possibilities for new cooperation among researchers. Urban history is a transdisciplinary subject, engaging not only historians but also ethnologists, sociologists, urban planners, and cultural geographers, and this book targets all scholars whose work requires a historical understanding of the Northern town. European urban historians outside the region will also find this text valuable as one of the few studies to consider the urban history of the continent from a North-centered viewpoint.

Table of Contents:
1. Northern Cities in European Perspective Part 1: Cities and State-Building in Early-Modern Empires 2. Copenhagen and Stockholm — Two Kings and Their Capitals in the Early 17th Century: Visions and Reality 3. Swedish Laws and the German Nation — The National Conflict in Nyen: Ingria’s Nationality Question 4. The Economic-Military Position of Nyen in the Swedish Kingdom and the Baltic Sea Area in the Late 17th Century 5. A Tale of Two Fortress Towns: Militarization Generating Urbanisation in 18th-Century Helsinki-Sveaborg and Ruotsinsalmi Part 2: Planning the Nordic Cities 6. Urban "Minor Utopias" in the Planning of Norwegian Towns 7. New Towns?: Urbanisation in Finland Between the 1920s and 1970s 8. Urban Metabolism on the Fringes of Europe Part 3: Social Fabric and Infrastructures 9. Skjern from Within: A Social Network Analysis of Religious Revival and Social Elites in a Small Western Jutland New Town, 1880–1930 10. Negotiating Citizenship on the Urban Periphery: Mass Housing, Resident Democracy, and Acts of Citizenship in 1970s Denmark 11. Care, Curiosity and Government: A Comparative History of Hospitals in the Nordic Countries, 1750–2000 Part 4: Nordic Cities Meeting the 21st Century 12. The Øresund Metropolis: The History of the Inter-Scandinavian Urban Region 13. Phases of Urbanisation: Sweden, 1800–2020 14. Creative Internationalism Part 5: Making Sense of Urban History 15. Between Socialist Ideals and Bourgeois Aspiration: National Cities Associations and Municipal Movement in 1903–1913 in Nordic Countries 16. Driving Forces in the Evolution of Stockholm and Umeå: Questioning Historical Plans to Inform the Design of Urban Space 17. Heritagization and the Use of History in Swedish Arctic Towns