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Terraqueous cities: The early modern art of governing water

par Martino, Davide
Référence European Architectural History Network (EAHN) 2026 conference (17-21/06/2026: Aarhus, Denmark)
Publication Non publié, 2026-06-18

Communication à un colloque

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Résumé :

In 1682, Grand-Duke Cosimo III de’ Medici sent the draughtsman Pietro Guerrini on a tour of Europe to observe and report ‘what other nations have […] of mechanical operations, buildings, machines, and instruments for the government and management of waters, whether running or still’. His instructions included specific mention of Augsburg and Amsterdam: focusing on these two cities, as well as on Guerrini’s native Florence, this paper argues that we should understand early modern cities as terraqueous sites.Founded on seashores or riverbanks, and prospering thanks to water power as well as waterborne transport, premodern cities were zones of contact between land and water. Their terraqueous character required constant interventions in the liquid environment, which in turn called for the training, employment, and deployment of hydraulic experts. This is evident not only from the point of view of hydraulic experts themselves, but also from that of travellers like Guerrini, visiting cities and commenting on both their hydraulic infrastructure and the experts who designed and constructed it.Reframing cities as terraqueous underscores the centrality of urban centres to the creation, implementation, and dissemination of knowledge about water. The establishment of specialised municipal hydraulic offices, an early modern phenomenon, both required the availability of knowledge and the people who held it, and led to the elaboration of more knowledge and the training of more experts. This paper thus contributes to an emerging body of environmental historical scholarship analysing the implications of past attempts to control the environment. As early modern cities increasingly sought to govern water, they relied on and generated knowledge about it. Simultaneously, they also created structures and systems which have shaped our (lack of) understanding for and interaction with urban waters down to the present day.