Urban Spaces

Academics and students from the University of Buckingham have been at the heart of a major European project to help people across the continent to connect with history.

Sarah Fitzpatrick, senior lecturer in Art History and joint project leader, and Roger Perkins, head of Journalism, along with other staff members and students from the Digital News and Journalism department became involved with the Urban Spaces project in 2021. The project is funded by the EU bodies Erasmus + and Europe For Citizens.

The Urban Spaces project involves eight towns across Europe: Oulu (Finland), Raciborz (Poland), Villeneuve-d’Ascq (France), Ljublijana (Slovenia), Bracknell (UK) and Julich, Schwedt and Leverkusen (Germany). All the towns were involved in twinning arrangements with Leverkusen.

The project aims to build historic awareness of the years between the two world wars and concentrates on urban development and the development of community identity in towns. There is a deliberate shift of focus away from the national towards the local and the regional as a way of opening up new questions and perspectives.

The project has produced a series of two-minute films about the interwar period showing life and the development of the urban environment in the various towns. The collection is a work in progress but currently contains around 70 multilingual films covering society, economy, culture and politics overlaid with ideas around modernisation and internationalisation.

Project partners are local history societies, twinning societies and some universities. The project participants number around 100 and include many participants aged between 18 and 25 – an important element as the aim of the project was to produce materials for young adult learners outside formal education.

A useful resource for teachers of history a teaching guide and an academic volume of partners contributions will be made available.

The project is available to view on YouTube.