Universal Cities and Individual Places: Urbanism and Identity in Premodern Southeast Asia
Urbanisms of the Global South: Nuances, Particularities, and Implications AY 2025-2026
February 2, 2026
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Location
CUPPAH 110
Calendar
Download iCal FileUrbanism emerged at least nine millennia ago, yet its causes and trajectories vary widely across time and space. This presentation examines early urbanism in Southeast Asia through the Angkorian Khmer Empire (9th–15th centuries CE), the largest polity of its era. At its 12th-century peak, Angkor housed more than 750,000 people in an expansive, low-density urban landscape comparable in scale to modern Los Angeles. Drawing on evidence from Angkor and the provincial center of Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, the paper explores both universal and place-specific urban processes, showing how premodern cities simultaneously reinforced and challenged prevailing cultural norms.
Mitch Hendrickson, Associate Professor of Anthropology, UIC
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Commentator: David López-García, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning and Policy, UIC
Date posted
Jan 9, 2026
Date updated
Jan 9, 2026