Water, sanitation and urbanisation in Denmark, 1876-1930
Name of applicant
Mathias Mølbak Ingholt
Title
Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution
University of Southern Denmark
Amount
DKK 1,985,000
Year
2025
Type of grant
Reintegration Fellowships
What?
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.
Why?
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.
How?
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.