Water, sanitation and urbanisation in Denmark, 1876-1930
Navn på bevillingshaver
Mathias Mølbak Ingholt
Titel
Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution
University of Southern Denmark
Beløb
DKK 1,985,000
År
2025
Bevillingstype
Reintegration Fellowships
Hvad?
This project explores how the arrival of clean water and sewer systems changed everyday health in Danish towns from 1876–1930. By using rare medical reports, city records, and death certificates, it tracks when deadly faecal-oral diseases disappeared and asks what role sanitary investments played compared to other changes in society.
Hvorfor?
Billions of people today still lack safe water and sanitation, making it one of the world’s biggest health challenges. By looking at Denmark’s past, we can uncover which improvements truly saved lives, why some diseases vanished earlier than others, and what lessons history can offer for today’s rapidly growing cities.
Hvordan?
The project combines statistics with storytelling: modern modelling techniques reveal how deaths and illnesses changed, while close readings of health reports and health commissions' minutes show how authorities conceived sanitation. Together, these methods reveal both the impact on the urban population and the decisions behind public health initiatives.