Across its contested meanings, modernity is associated with transformations — of places, experiences, governance, and social worlds. The purpose of this course is to investigate these transformations through grounded historical study of urban landscapes and lives, drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship across the geographic humanities but also on varieties of popular culture. Focusing particularly on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the course will draw on a diverse range of case studies to consider the making and meanings of modern urban spaces, and the limits and differential experiences of urban modernity.