Valerіі RUDENKO1, Diana-Elena ALEXANDRU*2, Viktoriia BILOUS1, Vasile ZOTIC2
* Corresponding author
1 Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Faculty of Geography, Chernivtsi, UKRAINE
2 Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Geography, Department of Human Geography and Tourism, Centre for Research on Settlements and Urbanism, Cluj-Napoca, ROMANIA
E-mail: rudenko_valery@ukr.net; ORCID: 0000-0002-7542-4399
E-mail: diana.alexandru@ubbcluj.ro; ORCID: 0000-0002-2221-9316
E-mail: geobilous@gmail.com; ORCID: 0000-0001-7394-836X
E-mail: vasile.zotic@ubbcluj.ro; ORCID: 0000-0002-4489-0637
Pages: 49-62. DOI: 10.24193/JSSP.2026.1.04
Received: 27 November 2025
Received in revised form: 12 April 2026
Accepted for publication: 20 May 2026
Available online: 30 June 2026
Cite: Rudenko V., Alexandru D.-E., Bilous V., Zotic V. (2026), European Urban Population Dynamics, 1875-1904: Alexander Supan’s Geography Textbook as a Historical-Geographical Source. Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning, 17(1), 49-62. DOI: 10.24193/JSSP.2026.1.04
Abstract. This study examines the population dynamics of European cities in the last quarter of the 19th century through a systematic extraction and analysis of the urban population figures published across four benchmark editions (1875, 1880, 1890, 1904) of Alexander Supan’s geography textbook for Austrian secondary schools. Using historical-geographical and statistical methods, the study reconstructs Supan’s implicit urban classification and traces changes in the number and population of cities in six size groups, from small towns to capital-million-plus cities. Results show a marked concentration of urban growth in the upper tiers of the European urban hierarchy. While big cities remained the most numerous category overall, the relative weight of small, midsize, and big cities declined, and the share of large, largest, and million-plus cities rose strongly by 1904. The number of cities with 100,000 inhabitants or more increased from 71 to 124, and their combined population grew from 20.9 to 44.5 million. The fastest relative growth occurred in cities such as Kiel, Mannheim, Kyiv, and Leipzig, and at the country level in the Netherlands, Germany, and Spain. Read critically, Supan’s textbook does not provide a census-equivalent dataset, but it does preserve a rare contemporary geographical interpretation of European urbanization during its most intensive nineteenth-century phase, making it a valuable source for both historical urban studies and the history of geographical knowledge.
K e y w o r d s: Alexander Supan, geography textbook, European cities, population dynamics, alternative data source, history of geography