Session: #312

Theme & Session Format

Theme:
4. Polis, Empire, League and Beyond – Living in Interconnected Societies
Session format:
Regular session

Title & Content

Title:
Continuity and Discontinuity of Transport Systems from Antiquity to the Present
Content:
Recently Danish economists have combined data on Roman roads and historical data on dwellings in Europe to assess the enduring effect of the Roman transportation network (Daalgard et al. 2018). Such research indicates that these roads created a united Europe that was an outcome of much older traditions. Pre-Roman Europe was not a blank slate but already highly interconnected. The Iron Age network of proto-urban and later urban centres (oppida) into which the Mediterranean world latched onto allowed the whole Western European network to "take-off" within the Roman system. The network also affected areas that were not even part of the Roman Empire, for example in Scandinavia. This Roman infrastructure was so robust that it could survive even the end of Roman Empire, for example in Britain. Even today, the roads may run along the same routes used for millennia. However, the centres and their connectors were not immutable and sometimes disrupted more notably. For example, the Roman road network incorporated in some instances old routes, but in the others diverted from them.

Urban networks and networked cities are becoming an increasingly dominant theme of research and international planning and understanding the routes and effects of these networks is vital for making informed decisions for the present and future. The modern planning tries to save old heritage and avoid historic routes. Thus, we encourage papers that discuss the connections between centres and the continuity and discontinuity of ancient transport networks. The potential topics include:

- diachronic approaches to transport
- settlement networks and connectivity
- road networks
- harbours and marine networks
- transhumance
- modelling past networks and least cost routes
- imports and exports
- modern road planning and heritage

Dalgaard, C.J., et al. 2018. On Roman roads and the sources of persistence and non-persistence in development. https://voxeu.org/article/roman-roads-and-persistence-development
Keywords:
Continuity, Discontinuity, Transport, Network, Antiquity
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:

Organisers

Main organiser:
Ulla Rajala (United Kingdom) 1
Co-organisers:
Francesca Fulminante (United Kingdom) 2,3,4
Joseph Lewis (United Kingdom) 5
Laura Stamerra (Italy) 4
Carlo Citter (Italy) 6
Affiliations:
1. Stockholm University, Sweden
2. UCL
3. University of Bristol
4. Roma Tre University
5. University of Cambridge
6. University of Siena