This graduate course aims to familiarize the students with key issues and debates regarding the urban life and local government in the Ottoman Empire and important European countries. The course employs a rigorously comparative perspective and the weekly topics are arranged accordingly. The reading materials deal with European cities in different parts of the continent (namely, major urban centers in Western, Central and Eastern Europe) and Ottoman cities in different regions of the Empire (Anatolia, Balkans, Arab lands). The goal is not only to provide a general panorama of European and Ottoman urban development in historical context, but also to map key themes around which European and Ottoman cities can be meaningfully and fruitfully compared. While some of the discussions will cover earlier or later periods, the focus throughout the semester will be on the nineteenth century and early twentieth century developments.