Sarah Collins

PhD

Biography

Sarah has a background in Landscape Archaeology and GIS. Having worked on public and private sector projects for the last ten years Sarah recently discovered a love of urban history following a project conducted on the urban landscape of Tyne & Wear. Sarah has returned to education to complete a PhD in History which builds on her GIS experience and uses a broad range of source material to contextualise the Enlightenment within urban spaces.

Qualifications

MA Historic Landscape Studies, University of York

BA (Hons) Archaeology, University of York

Thesis

Urban space and Enlightenment thought: A comparative study of American and British towns, 1688-1820

Research themes & scholarly interests

Sarah’s thesis explores the shift in design and use of towns in America and Britain between 1688 and 1820. The thesis will examine the extent to which Enlightenment thought impacted the physical shape of Edinburgh, Newcastle upon Tyne, Charleston and Philadelphia during this period. A broad range of source material including: historic maps; town plans; art; archival sources; city records; and personal papers will be analysed through utilisation of GIS. The spatial dimension of the Enlightenment town has not been critically analysed in scholarship because Enlightenment spaces are not contextualised within broader town development. By spatially referencing data Sarah’s research highlights the important role Historians have in furthering the understanding of the historic dimensions of spatial analysis.