Attributes and manifestations of urbanity in time and space (c. 800–1800). Comparative study of two German urban regions in a European perspective . Town definition – distribution patterns – data analysis

• Applicant: Dr. Daniel Stracke
• Subject Area: Medieval History ; Data Management, Data-Intensive Systems, Computer Science Methods in Business Informatics ; Early Modern History ; Geodesy, Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing, Geoinformatics, Cartography ; Human Geography ; Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 569019312

The European urban system can only be understood by reviewing large quantities of space/time data on town formation and urban development simultaneously. So far, small-scale distribution maps are the only means of visualising and investigating such findings in context. With H. Stoob's series of maps entitled ‘Distribution of Towns in Central Europe’ the cartographic method in this field saw its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. However, it also highlights the limitations of conventional analogue cartography: Stoob's achievement – the mapping of urban quality for around 8,000 places - was published without supporting evidence; in addition, the maps are difficult to read due to the complex signatures and the large amount of data. Firstly, the project therefore aims to submit the important findings of Stoob’s map series to detailed geodata analyses and to publish them online as reusable research data for urban research. Secondly, as the state of research has made considerable progress over the past 40 years, the aim is to supplement and correct the data on which the maps are based. To this end, the data samples on Westphalia and Mecklenburg, two urban regions of different structure which showcase common European developments, will be updated according to current research and sources. Thirdly, the project pursues a new methodological approach when updating the data samples on the two urban landscapes: recent research debates on early forms of the urban are led by archaeologists. In contrast, older urban history research, including Heinz Stoob's series of maps, followed a concept of the town based on a legal definition or an ideal type of the ‘Occidental City’. However, for spatial analyses this is problematic because the interpretation of the spread of urbanism from west to east is inherent in this conceptual model. Accordingly, autochthonous urban traditions in Scandinavia and East-Central Europe were declared to be mere ‘pre- or proto towns’, while late medieval and early modern developments were classified as ‘deteriorated’ and ‘minor towns’. In contrast, revisiting C. Haase's ‘bundle of criteria’ and current archaeological discussions on urbanisation the project attempts a new interpretation based on a gradual and unprejudiced understanding of ‘urbanity’. The idea is to record markers for urbanity in settlements, the gradual increase and decrease of which allow map out urbanisation processes more accurately than before. The data samples of the two regions are analysed for spatio-temporal patterns in order to challenge the older acculturation and expansion narratives regarding the development of the European urban system using digital methods. The new catalogue of urbanity markers, the revised data on Westphalia and Mecklenburg as well as the geodata pool covering Europe will allow to study the European urban system on a new methodological and technical basis.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants