Who I am is Where I am: Plotting Spatial Demographics in Renaissance Florence

Center for Spatial Data Science

Who I am is Where I am: Plotting Spatial Demographics in Renaissance Florence

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Add to Calendar 2020-10-20 09:00:00 2020-10-20 11:00:00 Who I am is Where I am: Plotting Spatial Demographics in Renaissance Florence Who I am is Where I am: Plotting Spatial Demographics in Renaissance Florence At a time before the advent of a rationalized system of numbered addresses, people in cities understood the places in which they lived their lives as a network of integrated spatial and social relationships between streets, people, institutions, and activities. this was no less true in the case of the first “modern” tax census carried out in Florence, in 1427. Known as the catasto, this massive experiment in developing a demographic portrait of the city required each household to declare where they stood, literally, in relation to the state and their immediate neighbor. By processing these relational stems of address, digital technologies now allow us the ability to build a social map of every Florentine household in the city at a moment when the city precisely at a moment when the city was transforming, experimenting with, and inventing forms of cultural production, economic innovation, and political practices that have had lasting effects on the history of the west. And the visualization of such a map will help us to understand the way in which Florentines understood their collective identity, who they were, as a function of where they were: where they lived, where they worked, where they prayed, and even where they died. Presentations are 30-45 min with 20-30 min Q+A and opportunities for networking afterwards for anyone who wants to stay. Presenters: Niall Atkinson, Associate Professor of Art History and Carmen Caswell, Digital Humanities Research Liaison, Humanities Computing All autumn study group meetings will be remote due to COVID-19. Email spatial@uchicago.edu for zoom access details. Zoom Department of Art History drupal@seastar.uchicago.edu America/Chicago public

Who I am is Where I am: Plotting Spatial Demographics in Renaissance Florence

At a time before the advent of a rationalized system of numbered addresses, people in cities understood the places in which they lived their lives as a network of integrated spatial and social relationships between streets, people, institutions, and activities. this was no less true in the case of the first “modern” tax census carried out in Florence, in 1427. Known as the catasto, this massive experiment in developing a demographic portrait of the city required each household to declare where they stood, literally, in relation to the state and their immediate neighbor. By processing these relational stems of address, digital technologies now allow us the ability to build a social map of every Florentine household in the city at a moment when the city precisely at a moment when the city was transforming, experimenting with, and inventing forms of cultural production, economic innovation, and political practices that have had lasting effects on the history of the west. And the visualization of such a map will help us to understand the way in which Florentines understood their collective identity, who they were, as a function of where they were: where they lived, where they worked, where they prayed, and even where they died.

Presentations are 30-45 min with 20-30 min Q+A and opportunities for networking afterwards for anyone who wants to stay.

Presenters: Niall Atkinson, Associate Professor of Art History and Carmen Caswell, Digital Humanities Research Liaison, Humanities Computing

All autumn study group meetings will be remote due to COVID-19. Email spatial@uchicago.edu for zoom access details.