Professor Richard Rodger
A Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Edinburgh, Professor Rodger is Director of the 'Advancing History: Mapping Edinburgh's Social History' (MESH) project. His 16 books and more than 100 articles and chapters have focused on Britain's urban, business and economic history.
The project
In history there are transformations of politics, culture, economics; MESH, the Mapping Edinburgh's Social History project, explores spatial transformations. More specifically, the project is concerned with exploring how spatial and social relationships inform the way in which a town, and later a city, functions. In the process, the MESH project hopes to find a place for the 'urban variable', a factor instrumental to the development of social history in the 1960s and 1970s, in historical explanations.
Bringing history to life
Smells, sounds, and colours were all part of this sensory city: the smell of the brewery, squeal of tram wheels rounding a curve, repulsive urinals, smoke-blackened facades from steam-powered workshops, market traders' distinctive calls, and shops with produce lacking the straitjacket of cling film - all were part of an un-sanitised urban experience.
Impact of the project
MESH looks to facilitate further understanding of these and other historical processes at work in Edinburgh, and in other cities more generally. In so doing, MESH will not only provide a published Atlas and commentary on the development of the city but will also produce a more extensive e-Atlas, digital data sets, and, most importantly, tools that will enable the public as well as students and researchers to interrogate spatial transformations.
History aiding other fields
It is our hope that more practitioner-based professions, such as architects, civic designers, town planners, urban studies, and policy-based fields such as transport planning, and those concerned with heritage, conversation, and the environment will all benefit from the project as well.
The MESH project is an initiative of Professor Richard Ridger from the University of Edinburgh's School of History Classics and Archaeology. To read more on the project visit: http://www.mesh.ed.ac.uk
The project
In history there are transformations of politics, culture, economics; MESH, the Mapping Edinburgh's Social History project, explores spatial transformations. More specifically, the project is concerned with exploring how spatial and social relationships inform the way in which a town, and later a city, functions. In the process, the MESH project hopes to find a place for the 'urban variable', a factor instrumental to the development of social history in the 1960s and 1970s, in historical explanations.
Bringing history to life
Smells, sounds, and colours were all part of this sensory city: the smell of the brewery, squeal of tram wheels rounding a curve, repulsive urinals, smoke-blackened facades from steam-powered workshops, market traders' distinctive calls, and shops with produce lacking the straitjacket of cling film - all were part of an un-sanitised urban experience.
Impact of the project
MESH looks to facilitate further understanding of these and other historical processes at work in Edinburgh, and in other cities more generally. In so doing, MESH will not only provide a published Atlas and commentary on the development of the city but will also produce a more extensive e-Atlas, digital data sets, and, most importantly, tools that will enable the public as well as students and researchers to interrogate spatial transformations.
History aiding other fields
It is our hope that more practitioner-based professions, such as architects, civic designers, town planners, urban studies, and policy-based fields such as transport planning, and those concerned with heritage, conversation, and the environment will all benefit from the project as well.
The MESH project is an initiative of Professor Richard Ridger from the University of Edinburgh's School of History Classics and Archaeology. To read more on the project visit: http://www.mesh.ed.ac.uk