Westphal College of Media Arts & Design

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.

Journal Articles

Daniel E. Coslett. “Monuments, Memory, and Conversion: Commemorating Saint Louis of France in Colonial Carthage.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 82, no. 4 (2023): 420–48.

Daniel E. Coslett. “Preservation and Tourism in Tunisia: On the Colonial Past in the Neocolonial Present.” Journal of North African Studies 25, no. 5 (2020): 727–57.

Daniel E. Coslett. “(Re)branding a (Post)colonial Streetscape: Tunis’s Avenue Bourguiba and the Road Ahead.” International Journal of Islamic Architecture 6, no. 1 (2017): 59–96.

Daniel E. Coslett and Manish Chalana. “National Parks for New Audiences: Diversifying Interpretation for Enhanced Contemporary Relevance.” Public Historian 38, no. 4 (2016): 101–28.

Daniel E. Coslett and James Thompson. “A Pre-disciplinary Approach to Built Environments Education: Teaching Seattle on Foot.” International Journal of the Constructed Environment 8, no. 2 (2016): 27–48.

Edited Volumes

Mohammad Gharipour and Daniel E. Coslett, eds. Islamic Architecture Today and Tomorrow: (Re)defining the Field. Bristol: Intellect, 2022.

Vikramaditya Prakash, Maristella Casciato, and Daniel E. Coslett, eds. Rethinking Global Modernism: Architectural Historiography and the Postcolonial. New York: Routledge, 2022.

Daniel E. Coslett, ed. Neocolonialism and Built Heritage: Echoes of Empire in Africa, Asia, and Europe. New York: Routledge, 2020.

Book Chapters

Daniel E. Coslett. “The Colonial Marianne: Representing Liberté and France in Occupied North Africa.” In Breaking the Bronze Ceiling: Women, Memory, and Public Space, edited by V. Rozas-Krause and A. M. Shanken, 201–29. New York: Fordham University Press, 2024.

Mohammad Gharipour and Daniel E. Coslett. “Introduction: The Changed and Changing Field of ‘Islamic Architecture’.” In Islamic Architecture Today and Tomorrow: (Re)defining the Field, edited by M. Gharipour and D. Coslett, 1–8. Bristol: Intellect, 2022

Vikramaditya Prakash, Maristella Casciato, and Daniel E. Coslett. “Global Modernism and the Postcolonial.” In Rethinking Global Modernism: Architectural Historiography and the Postcolonial, edited by V. Prakāsh, M. Casciato, and D. Coslett, 3–26. New York: Routledge, 2022.

Daniel E. Coslett. “Heritage, Tourism, and the Challenges of Postcolonial Globalization at Tunis’ Bardo Museum.” In Neocolonialism and Built Heritage: Echoes of Empire in Africa, Asia, and Europe, edited by D. Coslett, 191–216. New York: Routledge, 2020.

Daniel E. Coslett. “The Production and Use of Neocolonialist Sites of Memory.” In Neocolonialism and Built Heritage: Echoes of Empire in Africa, Asia, and Europe, edited by D. Coslett, 3–20. New York: Routledge, 2020.

Daniel E. Coslett. “Broadening the Study of North Africa’s Planning History: Urban Development and Heritage Preservation in Protectorate-era and Postcolonial Tunis.” In Urban Planning in North Africa, edited by C. N. Silva, 115–32. New York: Ashgate, 2016. 

Daniel E. Coslett.“(Re)creating a Christian Image Abroad: The Catholic Cathedrals of Protectorate-era Tunis.” In Sacred Precincts: The Religious Architecture of Non-Muslim Communities across the Islamic World, edited by M. Gharipour, 353–75. Boston, MA: Brill, 2015.