Join the Urban History Association for a vibrant and generative conference that will showcase new research, consider the state of the field, engage with a broad public, and introduce new audiences and new communities to our area of study. We especially hope to engage K-12 teachers, writers, activists, artists, and community leaders invested in Los Angeles and its region.

The conference theme, “Metropolitan Majorities,” reflects trends across the world: the ongoing population growth of cities and their metropolitan areas; the rising ethnoracial and cultural diversity of urban and suburban places; the increasing concentration of economic activities; and the contentious politics that have accompanied these changes.

This is our first meeting not just in Los Angeles, but also in California and on the West Coast. Holding our conference in a metropolitan region approaching twenty million people, one that is highly diverse, extremely wealthy and unequal, globally connected, and a preeminent center of cultural production—offers an ideal venue to think about these trends, their historical antecedents, and their present implications.