| A time-series of urban mapping documented the changing spatial, social, and economic ecology of Florence in the Renaissance period. |
Based on coding household-level residential data in the 1427 and the 1480 (or perhaps 1495) tax censuses (catasti) of Renaissance Florence, this project proposed to develop a time-series of urban maps, which documented the changing spatial, social, and economic ecology of that city over one hundred years. These maps of nearest neighbors were anchored in spatial infrastructure—streets, walls, major buildings, churches, administrative boundaries, etc.—but because they were reconstructed through tax-census data, they also documented, at a fine-grained household level of granularity, changing spatial distributions of wealth, occupation, and family size. In addition to their personal residences, Florentine households in their catasti also declared other properties they owned—economic shops (botteghe), urban rental properties, and agricultural farms (poderi). These enabled spatial geographies of connected properties.
This new spatial data, once assembled, was linked to University of Chicago Professor John Padgett’s existing (and ongoing) large relational dataset (a) on Florentine social networks—e.g., genealogies and intermarriage, economic partnership and credit, political factions and speeches—and (b) on Florentine organizations—e.g., guilds, elected political offices, parishes. Through such linkage, changing social, economic, and political networks and organizations became capable of visualization in space. One particular architectural research focus of this project is investigating the social-network embedding and determinants of the rise of the Renaissance palace. But, this is also a service for the public good of many other future research foci.
Associate Professor of Art History, Romance Languages and Literature, and the College
University of Chicago
Niall Atkinson’s teaching and scholarship focus on public space, urban history, soundscapes, geography and travel as well as the architecture and urbanism of late Medieval and Renaissance Italy. His research has concerned the relationship between sound, space, and architecture and their role in...
Professor, Department of Political Science
University of Chicago
John Padgett is a Professor specializing in American politics, organizational theory, mathematical models, and public policy. He is best known for his models of the federal budget process, although he has written on a variety of topics. The American Journal of Sociology published both...
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Niall Atkinson and his research colleagues have received an NEH grant to build a digital platform that will enhance access to important historical data on late-medieval and early-modern Florence.
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Niall Atkinson and his research colleagues have received an NEH grant to build a digital platform that will enhance access to important historical data on late-medieval and early-modern Florence.
