Urbanising nature: why the Grounded Cities of the middle ages matter for the modern environmental history of the city

In this contribution we focus on the potential of medieval European cities to understand the problems of today and possible solutions for tomorrow. Medieval European cities present us – despite all their pluriformity and variation – with a distinctive social and socio-environmental model, which, in the West, has often been depicted as instrumental for the culture of growth and the rise of exploitative relationships with nature. However, recent research on the environmental history of medieval cities in general, and on the history of urban food provisioning in particular, suggests that medieval European cities were not geared towards accumulation and growth, but more commonly conformed to the model of the Grounded City: Cities that, because of their intimate relationship with the land, privileged a direct and local access to food and vital resources. This article offers a first exploration of the idea of Grounded Medieval Cities, discussing its scope and significance as well as its legacy in later periods. Special attention is paid to the social inclusiveness of these Grounded cities and to the conditions in which Grounded cities gave way to more exploitative relationships with natural resources.

Publication year:2020

Keywords:A2 Journal article

Accessibility:Closed