About My Work
I am an urban environmental historian interested in the impact of the non-human forces on urban dynamics. My temporal and geographical focus are primarily 19th and 20th-century transatlantic relations and the formation of metropolitan areas. I have studied the history of human-animal relations, esp. in slaughterhouses; the significance of green spaces; and the impact of war on urban environments. Currently I am working on two projects, one of the role of nature in the transition from war to peace in 20th century Berlin and one of the significance of seasons in urban space, which is also a project on the question of urban temporalities.
Citations
Urbane Temporalitäten (special issue of MSG / Moderne Stadtgeschichte. Co-edited with Bettina Severin-Barboutie (2, 2021)
“Urban and (Rural) History,” in: Handbook of Historical Animal Studies. Edited by Mieke Roscher, André Krebber, and Brett Mizelle (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021), 243-257.
Urban Resilience in a Global Context: Actors, Narratives, Temporalities. Co-edited with Avi Sharma (Bielefeld: Transcript, 2020)
"Metropolitan Natural Histories: Inventing Science, Building Cities, and Displaying the World,” in: Science in the Metropolis. Edited by Mitchell Ash (London: Routledge, 2020), 25-42.
“Vertical Ecologies: The Balcony Biotopes of Berlin,” in: Botanical City. Edited by Matthew Gandy and Sandra Jasper (Berlin: Jovis, 2020), 101-108.
“Animals in Urban Environmental History” in: Concepts of Urban Environmental History. Edited by Sebastian Haumann, Martin Knoll, and Detlev Mares (Bielefeld: Transcript, 2020), 191-202.
100 Jahre Groß-Berlin: Grünfrage und Stadtentwicklung. Co-edited with Harald Bodenschatz (Berlin: Lukas, 2019)
"Green Visions: A Dialogue," (together with Avi Sharma) in: Green City: Explorations and Visions of Urban Sustainability. Edited by Simone M. Müller and Annika Mattissek (Munich: RCC Perspectives. Transformations in Environment and Society, 1, 2018): 15-21.
“Assembling the Multitude: Questions about Agency in the Urban Environment” Roundtable: Urban Agency: Debating the Aims and Limits of Urban History, Urban History 44 (1, 2017): 130-136.
"The Urban Politics of Nature: Two Centuries of Green Spaces in Berlin 1800-2014” in: Green Landscapes in the European City. Edited by Peter Clark, Marjaana Niemi, and Catharina Nolin (London: Routledge, 2017), 141-159.
Thick Space: Approaches to Metropolitanism. Co-edited with Sasha Disko and Georg Wagner-Kyora (Bielefeld: Transcript, 2012)
Greening the City: Urban Landscapes in the Twentieth Century. Co-edited with Sonja Dümpelmann (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2011) (paperback edition January 2019)
Beastly Natures: Animals, Humans, and the Study of History (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2010)
Professional Associations
European Society for Environmental History/ESEH
European Association of Urban History/EAUH