This thesis examines the urban morphology, social geography and the economics of local government in Kilkenny city between 1861 and 1922. It is essentially an urban history told from multiple perspectives. It uses cartographic, topographic, documentary and archaeological records to tell the story of a city in decline in the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Key research questions include, but are not limited to, whether or not the medieval form and layout of the city, particularly the burgage cycle, had an impact on the city during the study period and if the corporation fulfilled a role in acting as an agent of change. It begins with a limited plan analysis of Kilkenny city, that outlines its origins, before examining the long-term impact of the Kilkenny Markets Act and the morphology of two of the city 's milling complexes whose decline in the study period mirrors that of the city in general. The social geography of two of Kilkenny's suburbs is presented. This shows how they developed and subsequently declined and how the urban poor were housed. This also illustrates the importance of the burgage cycle to the city's development. It then examines if the corporation, the body that had the greatest capacity to act as an agent of change, acted to improve the city over the study period. It does this by an analysis of its finances and is followed by a case study of its role in managing the city's sanitation and water supply. The final chapter is a limited plan analysis at the end of the study period. It uses some nontraditional sources in the form of photographs in order to show how the city had essentially stagnated and declined over the course of the study period.