Securitizing Lviv. Local Government in a Multi-Ethnic City of the Habsburg Monarchy

This research project will be examining the administrative history of the Galician capital of Lviv from 1772 until 1914, because the basis of the development of this city from a state of decline into a multi-denominational and multi-ethnic metropolis can be seen in the city administration. The aim is to write an integral urban history of Lviv from the perspective of the city administration. Beyond purely administrative history, aspects of the communal life shared by various denominations and ethnic groups in their organisational (i.e. legal and administrative) principles will be researched. The focus will lie on the last third of the 19th century, because in this phase three fundamental developments collide, which are significant for the questions asked in the project: in addition to achieving autonomy, necessary modernisation was carried out in view of the challenges affecting society, hygiene and the infrastructure, and the urban, now Polonised administration was confronted by the political and cultural challenges of the national movements that were developing apace (at the urban level, this was seen at most clearly in schooling). The fundamental premise of the project is that the decisive momentum for urban development initially occurred through these intersecting trends.