A Spatio-Temporal Analysis of the Urban Fabric of Nuremberg From the 1940s Onwards Using Historical Maps

Ludwig, Carol and Alvanides, Seraphim (2023) A Spatio-Temporal Analysis of the Urban Fabric of Nuremberg From the 1940s Onwards Using Historical Maps. Urban Planning, 8 (1). pp. 239-254. ISSN 2183-7635

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i1.6084

Abstract

As one of the most heavily bomb-damaged cities in Germany, with around 90 of its historic city centre destroyed, Nuremberg (Nürnberg) provides an excellent example to investigate the urban transformation of a postwar city. In this article, we bring together heterogeneous and under-researched data sets and archival material from the postwar period and convert urban features depicted in historic maps and scanned documents into digital geospatial data that is analyzed with a geographical information system. We combine morphological variables of townscape analysis to present three different transformations over time. First, using a damage map of Nuremberg from the Second World War, we examine the varying extent of bomb damage across the city at the detailed district level. Secondly, we focus on land-use units, comparing the prewar spatial land-use distribution from 1940 with historical maps of land use/cover from 1956 and more recent land uses in 1969. Finally, using selected characteristics of urban form, we categorize prewar and present-day urban block typologies to examine urban morphological change. In doing so, we contribute methodologically and substantively towards a new framework for the analysis of postwar cities. We demonstrate how geographical information systems can be utilized for historical research and the study of change in urban environments, presenting a map-based interpretation of the planning strategies to have guided postwar urban development in Nuremberg. Providing an alternative appraisal of postwar city transformation, our diachronic research offers insight into Nuremberg’s under-researched past, which is also of interest to planners and policymakers seeking to improve future cities.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: urban morphology, postwar planning, geographical information science, damage maps, city transformation
Subjects: K400 Planning (Urban, Rural and Regional)
K900 Others in Architecture, Building and Planning
Department: Faculties > Engineering and Environment > Architecture and Built Environment
Depositing User: Rachel Branson
Date Deposited: 25 Jan 2023 10:28
Last Modified: 23 Feb 2023 11:45
URI: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/51238

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