Digital Urban History of the Early Modern World: Amsterdam and Edo
This project utilises digital methods to uncover gendered use patterns in Amsterdam and Edo's historic urban space. It explores the spatial history of these two cities through virtual three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of early modern streetscapes based on various printed scholarly resources, archival research, and digital site-surveys. These 3D digital reconstructions play a role as a digital toolbox for the virtual assessment of given urban spaces and aim to represent and re-evaluate the sense of the place, as experienced by historical actors. In addition, this analysis builds on the datasets compiled in the context of the Edo and Amsterdam projects and visualises this information as abstract and geographical mappings, showing the gendered use of urban space and mobility over time.
Another investigation line consists of Edo and Amsterdam's spatial and historical cross-comparison in the early modern period by way of elevation diagrams of select streetscapes. Through this analysis, the project intends to expand the de-facto emphasis on the "horizontal" dimension when analysing historical urban patterns (typically in the form of maps and building plans). It introduces the "vertical" dimension to decipher the lived space of the premodern city fully. Doing so also brings to the fore the concept of "water cities" and examines the interrelations between streets, water and canals, and the use and perception of these spaces by social actors.
Together, these lines of research have the critical goal to facilitate public engagement. The digital outputs will serve as research models and an essential means of engaging a wider audience.
Researcher: Gamze Saygi
