This volume began life as a conference on ‘Empty Spaces’ held at the Institute of Historical Research in London in 2015, organized by the three editors and a fourth colleague, Will Pooley (University of Bristol). Given the enthusiasm generated by this event, and the clear value of gathering together scholars with interests in spatial history, we have since collected a number of papers originally presented in London, along with several recently invited new chapters. In 2016 we organized a workshop at the Institute of Historical Research to discuss the chapters and the implications of our ongoing exploration of emptiness, of which this volume is the fruit.
Through each step of the process – from conference to workshop and workshop to final publication – we have relied on the support of several institutions and individuals. We thank the Institute of Historical Research in the School of Advanced Study of the University of London for providing the initial financial and administrative support along with the space within which to carry out first the conference and then the workshop from which this volume developed. We also thank the Historical Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society, the Department of History of Vanderbilt University and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London for financial support that underpinned the initial conference. A Scouloudi Publication Award provided financial support for the images included in this volume, while the College of Arts and Humanities at University College Dublin contributed funding for indexing.
In addition, we would like to thank Will Pooley of the University of Bristol and Vanessa Rockel of the Institute of Historical Research for their support and labour in helping to organize and administer the Empty Spaces conference in 2015. We express gratitude to Lawrence Goldman, former Director of the IHR, for his support of this project (along with our individual research). We thank the two anonymous reviewers whose comments helped us to mould this volume and our introduction. Julie Spraggon and Jane Winters, in their roles as former and current Head of Publications at the IHR, have offered tireless patience, support and knowledge in support of this volume. Finally, we save our most hearty thanks for the contributors to this volume whose hard work, rigorous research, skilful writing and endless patience have made this volume possible.