Bio


I've been the Associate Director of the Program on Urban Studies since the fall of 2003; I'm also a senior lecturer in Sociology.

I teach both introductory and upper-level courses in Urban Studies, and I teach courses on the history of American cities.

Academic Appointments


  • Senior Lecturer, Sociology

Administrative Appointments


  • Associate Director, Program on Urban Studies (2004 - Present)

Honors & Awards


  • Susan W. Schofield Oral History Award, Stanford Historical Society (2022)
  • Innovation Grant, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning (2018)
  • Friend of Haas Award, Haas Center for Public Service (2017)

Program Affiliations


  • Program on Urban Studies

Professional Education


  • B.A., Yale University, History (1990)
  • Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, History (2002)

Current Research and Scholarly Interests


19th and 20th Century Urban and Social History; Street Life; Urban Space

2024-25 Courses


All Publications


  • Walking and Knowing New York City Metropolitics Kahan, M. B. 2024
  • “Jewish Girls’ Street Peddling in Gilded Age Philadelphia: Ethnic Niche, Family Strategy, and Sexual Danger” Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth Kahan, M. B. 2019; 12 (3): 374-392

    View details for DOI 10.1353/hcy.2019.0041

  • “Urban America” A Companion to the Gilded Age and Progressive Era Kahan, M. B. Wiley-Blackwell. 2017
  • Reading Whiskey Gulch: The Meanings of Space and Urban Redevelopment in East Palo Alto Occasion Kahan, M. B. 2015; 8
  • THE RISK OF CHOLERA AND THE REFORM OF URBAN SPACE: PHILADELPHIA, 1893 GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW Kahan, M. B. 2013; 103 (4): 517-536
  • “There are Plenty of Women on the Street”: The Landscape of Commercial Sex in Progressive-Era Philadelphia” Historical Geography Kahan, M. B. 2012; 40: 39-60