This edited collection examines the formation of urban networks and role of gateways in Europe from the Middle Ages to the modern world. In the past, gateway cities were merely perceived as transport points, only relevant to maritime shipping. Today they are seen as the organic entities coordinating the allocation of resources and supporting the growth, efficiency and sustainability of logistics (including both the transport and distribution of goods and services). Using different historical case studies, the authors consider how logistics shaped urban networks and were shaped by them.

Highlights the crucial role of urban networks in understanding the socioeconomic, geopolitical and spatial dynamics of European history from 1500 to 1900 Tests theories on the relationship between urban networks and economic activity by comparing historical cases Focuses on the historical development of transport and distribution in connection with the development of urban networks

Autorentext

Giovanni Favero **is Professor of Economic History at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Italy, in the Department of Management. In 2018-19 he was the Thomas K. McCraw Visiting Fellow in US Business History at Harvard Business School. He works on organisational history in a long term perspective. ****

Michael-W. Serruys is a Marie Sk odowska Curie Action Fellow at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale in Brest, France. In recent years his main focus lay on 18th century Belgian economic, maritime and transport history. As a MSCA Fellow he now researches the societal effects of environmental crisis, like the shipworm epidemic in 18th century Western Europe.****

Miki Sugiura is Professor of Global Economic History at the Faculty of Economics of Hosei University, Japan. Currently (2018-2020) she is Visiting Professor of Global History and Culture at the University of Warwick. Her research interests include historyof distribution and trade organizations, urban formation and women's property formation. She also has published recently multiple articles and books on circulations and recycling of textile products.

Inhalt

1. Introduction.- 2. Gateway of Gothenburg.- 3. Bordeaux from Its Vineyards to Its Hinterland: A Regional Capital in the Late Middle Ages.- 4. Urban Networks on the Move: The Austrian Netherlands' Transit Policy and the Development of the Belgian Urban Networks in the 18 th Century (1705-1793).- 5. Persistence and Evolution in the Eastern Sicilian Coastal Corridor: The Mobility of Goods and People at the Port of Catania (1817-1860).- 6. Bridging the Gap: The Belfast-Dublin Railway Corridor in the 19 th Century.- 7. Urban Network and Economic Policy: The Milanese Case during the Spanish and Austrian Age.- 8. The Construction of an Inland Gateway: Milan in the Early Modern Period.- 9. Gateways as Intermodal Nodes in Different Ages: The Venetian Region, 18 th to 20 th Centuries.- 10. The Flaxseed Trade between Courland and Brittany in the 18 th Century.- 11. Ports and Their Functions: Some Reflections about Preindustrial Logistics.- 12. Tracking Waters: Small Cities Transport Network of Early Modern Friesland.