Dublin Core
Titre
The foundation, planning and building of new towns in the 13th and 14th centuries in Europe : an architectural-historical research into urban form and its creation
Sujet
urban form, urban morphology, urban planning, urban history, history of urban planning, history of architecture, new town
Description
The urban environment is the physical and social habitat for almost half of mankind in the present day world. In ‘developed’ regions such as Europe even almost three quarters of the population live in towns and cities. This urban environment has strongly contributed to the shape of our personal and common identity, our culture, both in the past and in the present.
For instance, many important facets of our modern world are essentially urban in origin. This holds true for, among other things, the core family as social unit (instead of extended families or tribes), for the freedom of person and personal possession, for the freedom of trade and profession (and thereby for professional specialisation and the recognition of the importance of schooling), for market trade, money and democracy.
Conversely, the physical and social urban environment also expresses our common identity. And the forms of historic towns and cities also express the identity and aspirations of our ancestors, which is also important for our own identity, giving us a place in history. Generally speaking, the historic manmade landscape offers us a tangible idea of the long history of our culture and of our own position in history. This holds particularly true for the landscape with many historic buildings, in old villages, towns and cities. This built landscape offers us a strong suggestion of the connection with our ancestors that created (elements of) this landscape in the past, and it makes us more or less conscious of both cultural change and continuity in the course of the centuries. Therefore, the historic urban landscape, as it exists, has to be treated with care and respect. And therefore it also deserves to be studied, and if possible, explained. That is what this study is mainly about.
The greatest part of urban space in Europe has been created since the industrial revolution, which, depending on the region, generally took place in the late 18th to early 20th century. The general development of the strong urbanisation in this period is relatively well known to us. But many, or probably even most, of the towns and cities that presently exist have originally been created in the period of about the 12th to 14th centuries. In this period there was also a high degree of urbanisation, which is quite well-known as a general fact, but relatively little is known of what precisely happened.
Therefore, this study seeks to understand more of this period of strong urbanisation, and more precisely about the spatial or architectural aspects of this urbanisation. In particular, this study focuses on towns that were intentionally created from very humble beginnings within a relatively short period of time. It is a known fact that many towns were newly created in this way throughout Europe particularly in the 13th and 14th centuries, but very little is known of how this actually happened, and it appears that part of the ideas that people presently have concerning this subject, are largely erroneous. Therefore this dissertation is intended to shed more light on the subject of the creation of new towns in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, by analysing the towns and the relatively sparse written sources on the subject.
For instance, many important facets of our modern world are essentially urban in origin. This holds true for, among other things, the core family as social unit (instead of extended families or tribes), for the freedom of person and personal possession, for the freedom of trade and profession (and thereby for professional specialisation and the recognition of the importance of schooling), for market trade, money and democracy.
Conversely, the physical and social urban environment also expresses our common identity. And the forms of historic towns and cities also express the identity and aspirations of our ancestors, which is also important for our own identity, giving us a place in history. Generally speaking, the historic manmade landscape offers us a tangible idea of the long history of our culture and of our own position in history. This holds particularly true for the landscape with many historic buildings, in old villages, towns and cities. This built landscape offers us a strong suggestion of the connection with our ancestors that created (elements of) this landscape in the past, and it makes us more or less conscious of both cultural change and continuity in the course of the centuries. Therefore, the historic urban landscape, as it exists, has to be treated with care and respect. And therefore it also deserves to be studied, and if possible, explained. That is what this study is mainly about.
The greatest part of urban space in Europe has been created since the industrial revolution, which, depending on the region, generally took place in the late 18th to early 20th century. The general development of the strong urbanisation in this period is relatively well known to us. But many, or probably even most, of the towns and cities that presently exist have originally been created in the period of about the 12th to 14th centuries. In this period there was also a high degree of urbanisation, which is quite well-known as a general fact, but relatively little is known of what precisely happened.
Therefore, this study seeks to understand more of this period of strong urbanisation, and more precisely about the spatial or architectural aspects of this urbanisation. In particular, this study focuses on towns that were intentionally created from very humble beginnings within a relatively short period of time. It is a known fact that many towns were newly created in this way throughout Europe particularly in the 13th and 14th centuries, but very little is known of how this actually happened, and it appears that part of the ideas that people presently have concerning this subject, are largely erroneous. Therefore this dissertation is intended to shed more light on the subject of the creation of new towns in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, by analysing the towns and the relatively sparse written sources on the subject.
Créateur
Boerefijn, Wim
Éditeur
Universiteit van Amsterdam
Date
2010
Contributeur
Bosman, A. F. W. Supervisor
Langue
en
Type
Thesis
Identifiant
http://dare.uva.nl/en/record/336940
http://lallier.msh-vdl.fr/theses/items/show/886
http://lallier.msh-vdl.fr/theses/archive/files/2ab196cdb11885b3c4bb1618423449e7.jpg