The Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin seems to emerge as an interesting spot on the map. This (academic) year they're organizing a seminar series on Ottoman Urban Studies, and at least two of the lectures should be hightlighted on this weblog: Balkan Cities 1878-1912: Cosmopolitanism and Nationalisms (March 31) by the popular Dr. Bojan Aleksov, now of London; and Cosmopolitanism and the Urban Governance of a Balkan Town – Sofia in the Late 18th - Early 19th Centuries (February 25) by the Ottomanist Gergana Georgieva, specialized on urban history. The complete list of seminars can be seen, inter alia, here.