About
Daniel E. Coslett, Ph.D., is a scholar of architectural and urban history. His interests center on the place of historical built environments within contemporary cities. Through his work he explores the ways in which surviving traces of the past are preserved, interpreted, experienced, and exploited today, and how they contribute to urban life while inspiring urban identities. His research specialties include architecture and planning of the modern era, built environments of European colonialism, archaeology and heritage management, and tourism in North Africa and the wider Mediterranean region.
A native of southeast Pennsylvania, Coslett studied political science and classics at Davidson College, and the history of architecture and urban development at Cornell University. He then received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the built environment (history, theory, and representation studies) from the University of Washington. He joined the faculty at Drexel University in 2022, having previously taught at Western Washington University in the Department of Art & Art History. There he taught art and architectural history survey courses (on ancient, medieval, and 19th-century material), upper-level lecture courses (on modern architectural history and theory and built environments of colonial North Africa and India), and seminars on architectural analysis, monuments, and the architectures of tourism and travel. At the University of Washington in Seattle, Coslett offered courses on architectural history and theory, global built environments, and historic preservation for the Departments of Architecture, Urban Design and Planning, and the College of Built Environments.
Coslett has published several edited volumes and book chapters on colonial architecture, global built environments, and heritage, as well as articles in publications including the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, the International Journal of Islamic Architecture, Public Historian, and the Journal of North African Studies. He is an active member of the Society of Architectural Historians and an associate editor for the International Journal of Islamic Architecture.