Theme:
5. All Roads Lead to Rome: Multiscalar Interactions
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Tracking the Urban DNA. Unravelling the Rise and Fall of Towns and Cities
Content:
Urban places are dynamic. They are hubs of networks, influences, economies, cultures and religions. Rome is an appealing example of positive urban dynamism: it originated as a small settlement and steadily grew into a world power, overshadowing other cities, territories, countries and even continents. Of course, not all cities went through such a development. Some declined quickly because of environmental, political or economic changes (or a combination of all of those). Each urban place developed and evolved in its own way, determined by an interplay of factors: the natural landscape, connectivity between the settlement and its region and beyond, political and economic support for the settlement, the right people in the right place who could allow urbanism to develop further, and the economic base of the settlement itself. Traces of this can be found in the city’s DNA.
In this formal session of the EAA Urban Archaeology Community, we want to challenge contributors to track down this urban DNA.
- How did the different elements express themselves that are so decisive for the development of the settlement?
- What can we still find here, above ground and below ground?
- How did this determine the city’s spatial structure over time and is it still recognisable?
- Can we recognise external elements that at some point started to leave their mark on the city?
- What are the challenges of recognising and exploring this DNA and what are the challenges of preserving these remains for the future?
- What happens to the DNA of failed settlements?
We welcome contributions from Europe and beyond that illuminate this theme, independent of specific periods and cultures, to highlight the topic from as many different perspectives as possible.
Keywords:
urban archaeology, urban landscape, historic towns, urban development, spatial structure, exchange
Session associated with MERC:
yes
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Urban Archaeology Community
Main organiser:
Jeroen Bouwmeester (Netherlands) 1
Co-organisers:
Liisa Seppänen (Finland) 2
Kirstine Haase (Denmark) 3
Paul Belford (United Kingdom) 4
Dirk Rieger (Germany) 5
Affiliations:
1. Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
2. University of Turku
3. Museum Odense
4. Heritage Innovation
5. Hansestadt Lübeck
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