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• 15 nov 2013

  Lisbon

  Call for papers - Middle Ages

  When cities meet forests

  Environmental approaches of interactions between cities and forest supplies during the Middles Ages and the Early modern period. 12th International Conference on urban History, European Association for Urban History – Main Session M16

  As places of consumption and production European medieval and early modern cities exerted a enormous pressure on neighbouring woodlands. Some historical studies have already discussed the way cities tried to impone their control on these lands emphasizing the diversity of needs which were fulfilled by forest exploitation (wood, timber, charcoal, grazing…). They often concluded that urban pressure resulted in an inexorable degradation of the forest cover. Indeed local woodlands and forests products could probably never meet the demand. In order to face shortage or, better, to prevent it, urban authorities attempted on one hand to extend their control on more and more distant forests and to attract interregional or « international » trade flows. On the other hand, they tried to regulate the local market so as to ensure access to several important needs regarding urban economy (charcoal, timber).

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