Urban Health Systems Before Welfare States – European Cities Since 1800

M32. Urban Health Systems Before Welfare States – European Cities Since 1800

A reminder that the call for papers for the European Association for Urban Historians Conference in Lisbon, September 2014 will close on 15 October. http://www.eauh2014.fcsh.unl.pt

Barry Doyle - University Of Huddersfield UK b.m.doyle@hud.ac.uk

Fritz Dross - University Of Erlangen-Nürnberg fritz.dross@fau.de

Are organizing a session entitled: Urban Health Systems Before Welfare States which seeks papers from historians working on any form of health care in urban settings in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Though its main focus is Europe, papers that explore the actions of European colonists or comparative and transnational proposals which link developments in European cities to changes across the globe will be equally welcome. In particular, we would encourage work that explores:


• The mix of health care services and the relationship between voluntary, religious, commercial, municipal and mutual providers.


• The role of urban health care administrations compared to national and regional health care agencies; especially their respective potentiality in regulating and financing health care


• The role of doctors and other health professionals in promoting and managing, as well as delivering, medical services


• The role of the urban sick, the health care “consumers”, and patients articulating demand for or refusing the local supply


• Class, gender, age and locality in promoting or retarding access to medical aid and in the shaping of provision.


• The impact of patronage and politics in the efficiency and effectiveness of services and the nature of contests within the elite and between traditional urban leaders and new comers in the professions, the unions and the working class more generally.

Papers that offer comparative perspectives, especially across nations will be particularly welcome.