GUHP3 Mexico
Layered Cities: Scale and Time in Global Urban History
UNAM – Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas
Mexico City, June 21 – 22, 2027
Global Urban History Project

The Global Urban History Project (GUHP) was founded in 2017 with the goal of supporting research at the intersection of global and urban history, where cities are both the products of and producers of larger-scale historical phenomena. For our third in-person conference, we invite scholars within and beyond the GUHP community to explore how urban spaces are produced across intersecting scales and temporalities, generating both continuity and rupture. We welcome studies that examine cities as palimpsests, as sites where social relations, political power, infrastructures, and urban environments are continually constructed, obscured, and reactivated over time. By bringing together perspectives from different regions and periods, the conference aims to link the intimate and the global, the material and the imagined. We welcome contributions that engage with questions of layers, multiple spatial and temporal scales, the built and natural environments, Damos la bienvenida a contribuciones que aborden problemáticas relacionadas con las capas y las múltiples escalas espaciales y temporales, así como con los entornos construidos y naturales, las ciudades y sus áreas circundantes, la movilidad y las infraestructuras.” , mobility, and infrastructures. We encourage experimentation with new narrative forms and methods that emphasize historical contingency, conceiving cities as accretive sites where environment, geography, and the elements of urbanity are continually reconfigured.

GUHP3 México
La ciudad en capas: Escala y tiempo en la historia urbana global
UNAM – Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas
Ciudad de México, 21 - 22 de junio, 2027
Proyecto de Historia Urbana Global

El Proyecto de Historia Urbana Global (GUHP, por sus siglas en inglés) se estableció en 2017 con el propósito de fomentar la investigación en el cruce entre la historia global y la urbana, entendiendo las ciudades como resultado y a la vez impulsoras de procesos históricos de mayor alcance. Para la tercera edición de nuestra conferencia presencial, invitamos académicos del GUHP y de otros ámbitos para explorar cómo los espacios urbanos emergen de la interacción de diversas escalas y temporalidades, produciendo tanto continuidades como rupturas. Acogemos estudios que examinen las ciudades como palimpsestos: lugares donde las relaciones sociales, el poder político, las infraestructuras y los entornos urbanos se construyen, se ocultan y se reactivan continuamente a lo largo del tiempo. Al integrar perspectivas de diversas regiones y períodos históricos, la conferencia propone articular lo íntimo con lo global, y lo material con lo imaginario. Damos la bienvenida a contribuciones que aborden problemáticas relacionadas con las capas urbanas y las múltiples escalas espaciales y temporales de la cuidad, así como con los entornos construidos y naturales, las ciudades y su área de influencia, la movilidad y las infraestructuras. Fomentamos la experimentación con nuevas formas narrativas y métodos que destaquen la contingencia histórica, concibiendo las ciudades como espacios acumulativos donde el entorno, la geografía y los elementos de la urbanidad se reconfiguran continuamente.

Call for Panel and Paper Proposals

and

Call for Applicants for the 2026-27 Cohort of
the GUHP Emerging Scholars Program

Deadline: October 16, 2026 11:59 UTC

The conference committee welcomes submissions that include scholars at all career levels, including graduate students, and that address diversity. Submissions may address innovative approaches to urban history across geography and time periods.

Attendance: The conference will be limited to 150 participants.  This will be an in-person only event. For opportunities to join future GUHP online events, please refer to the GUHP Dream Conversations in Urban History series on our website.

Language: Presentations must be in English or in Spanish. 

Panel sessions vs. individual presentations: GUHP will consider both proposals for full sessions and for individual presentations. Sessions are limited to four presenters or three presenters and a discussant. The conference organizing committee welcomes creative session and presentation formats including roundtables, working sessions, and brainstorming sessions.

GUHP Emerging Scholars Program 2026-27: This call for conference presentations doubles as a call for application for the 2026-27 Cohort for the  GUHP Emerging Program. See below for the program mission and additional application materials. 

GUHP Travel Awards: GUHP can offer a limited number of Travel Awards to help scholars with lower-resourced institutions attend GUHP3 Mexico. Use your proposal for conference presentation to alert GUHP of your interest. See below for further instructions. 

GUHP membership: Membership in GUHP is not required to propose a panel or paper to the conference. If your proposal is accepted, you will be expected to join GUHP to register for the conference.

For further information: Please reach out to the Conference Program Committee at GUHP3Mexico2027@gmail.com with questions and ideas.

Note on Sustainability: The GUHP conference is committed to sustainability and carbon neutrality. The conference will offer vegetarian meals, recycle, and avoid single use plastic or printed materials. To the extent possible, we encourage all participants to chose transportation modes in keeping with the goal of carbon neutrality. To this end, the United Nations offers a carbon offset platform. 


TO APPLY:

Submissions Format: Submissions must include the information listed below. Panels are limited to four presenters or three presenters and a discussant.

For the overall panel:

    Panel Title
    Panel abstract (350-500 words)
    Panel format (if different from a traditional conference panel)

For each presentation in a panel or for individual presentation proposals:

    Presentation title
    Presentation abstract (250 words max.)
    Presenter’s name, professional title, affiliation, and email address
    Presenter’s short bio (250 words max.)

For chairs and discussants (all panels must have a chair, who can double as a presenter OR a discussant; discussants are optional):

    Name, professional title, affiliation, email address and
    Short bio (250 words max.)

For Applicants for a GUHP Travel Award: Please make a clear and explicit statement about your interest in a Travel Award as part of your paper or panel application. In panel proposals please communicate with oanel organizers to clarify which applicants are applying for the Travel Award. Also include a short statement of need.

For Applicants to the 2026-27 GUHP Emerging Program.

Eligibility: Graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and independent scholars, adjunct faculty or tenure track faculty up to three years past their doctoral degree may apply to join the conference as a member of the 2024-25 cohort of the GUHP Emerging Scholars program. 

Why apply: Successful applicants will receive individual feedback on their conference proposal from a senior member of GUHP and will be invited to rehearse their presentation in a private online event in advance of the conference. In addition, they will be honored alongside other GUHP Emerging Scholars attendees at a special ceremony in Berlin.

Application: In addition to applying for participation in the conference - either as a panel member or as an individual presenter - applicants should submit a short separate cover letter declaring their interest in this program. The cover letter should include the name and contact information of the PhD advisor or another scholar who knows the work well. 

Deadline for submission: Please send your presentation proposal as a single PDF document to GUHP3Mexico2027@gmail.com by 23:59 UTC on Friday, October 16, 2026. Applicants for GUHP Emerging should send the additional materials under their own name  as a separate PDF by the same deadline.