The Archaeology of Emptiness? Understanding Open Urban Spaces in the Medieval World

Jervis, Ben; Cembrzyński, Paweł; Fleisher, Jeffrey; Tys, Dries; Wynne‐Jones, Stephanie

doi:10.1484/j.jua.5.126601

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 87 publications

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“…[44], Figure 155). Stimulating this direction of investigation, the growing attention to the conceptualisation and significance of urban open space, its differentiation and integration, in historical contexts is welcome [33,[45][46][47][48]. Such research sets an important step towards the more useful distinction of green and grey open space (esp.…”

Section: Soil Connectivity In Urban Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engagement with Urban Soils Part II: Starting Points for Sustainable Urban Planning Guidelines Derived from Maya Soil Connectivity

Vis

Evans

Graham

2023

Land

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Using the Precolumbian lowland Maya model of urban soil connectivity discussed in Part I, we review how soil connectivity can transition into urban planning policy and, by extension, could ultimately become codified as vantages and guidelines for urban design. In Maya agro-urban landscapes, the interspersion of open and green space with construction and paving provides edges (or interfaces) between sealed and unsealed soils at which the potential for soil connectivity manifests. These edges create an undeniable opportunity for urban planning to determine methods, guidelines, and conditions that can enhance soil connectivity. We argue that adequate attention to soils in urban sustainability goals would counteract misconceptions about the compact city paradigm and compensation for soil sealing in urban practice. Through preserving and increasing urban soil availability, proximity, and accessibility, advisory policies can stimulate shared values and everyday behaviours that reinforce the responsible and productive use of urban soils. Such urban planning can enable and encourage widespread participation in urban soil management. To promote policymaking on urban soils, we assess the importance and challenges of using urban green space as a proxy for the presence of urban soils. Our review suggests that urban green space offers high potential for use in urban planning to develop habit architectures that nurture soil-oriented pro-environmental behaviour. However, we also acknowledge the need for consistent and systematic data on urban soils that match sustainable urban development concepts to assist the effective transition of soil connectivity into urban planning codifications. Formulating adequate soil-oriented planning guidelines will require translating empirical insights into policy applications. To this end, we propose methods for enhancing our understanding and ability to monitor urban soil connectivity, including onsite surveys of land-use and bottom-up experience of soils, the mapping of the edges between sealed and unsealed soils, and using landscape ecological scales of analysis. In conclusion, we position soil care and connectivity as a primary task for urban planning and design and digest our findings and empirical vantages into concrete starting points devised as instruments to support urban planning in achieving soil codification.

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Section: Soil Connectivity In Urban Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engagement with Urban Soils Part II: Starting Points for Sustainable Urban Planning Guidelines Derived from Maya Soil Connectivity

Vis

Evans

Graham

2023

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Households in Transition: Persistence and Change of Dwellings in the City of Old Dongola (Sudan, 14th–17th Century)

Wyżgoł

2024

Afr Archaeol Rev

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The period between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries in Old Dongola, Sudan, marks a significant political and religious transition. The Makurian kingdom collapsed, and in the sixteenth century, the city became subordinate to the Funj Sultanate. Simultaneously, domestic architecture exhibited a high level of uniformity, with urban space dominated by two-room houses clustered in compounds with a shared courtyard. In these transformative conditions, the seeming persistence of household requires explanation. This paper examines residues of human actions, applying a multielemental analysis of domestic floors of four house compounds dated from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. It allowed us to understand domestic space in intensive terms, as created by everyday domestic activities. The analysis of macro- and micro-residues resulted in the identification of various ways particular households engaged with domestic space. In this study, the role of heterogeneous domestic space played in the persistence and changeability of households was discussed, particularly how the striated residential units coded relations of dwellers, while the smooth open spaces had creative potential. Lastly, it is proposed that the temporality of households did not align with the temporality of the political changes in the city.

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Clientage, debt, and the integrative orientation of non-elites on the East African Swahili coast

Alders

2024

Journal of Anthropological Archaeology

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The Archaeology of Emptiness? Understanding Open Urban Spaces in the Medieval World

Cited by 7 publications

References 87 publications

Engagement with Urban Soils Part II: Starting Points for Sustainable Urban Planning Guidelines Derived from Maya Soil Connectivity

Engagement with Urban Soils Part II: Starting Points for Sustainable Urban Planning Guidelines Derived from Maya Soil Connectivity

Households in Transition: Persistence and Change of Dwellings in the City of Old Dongola (Sudan, 14th–17th Century)

Clientage, debt, and the integrative orientation of non-elites on the East African Swahili coast

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