From Central Places to Places in the Centrum. Spatial Approaches in Historical Studies and their Impact on Interpretational Frameworks

CEU Department of History 

cordially invites you to a public lecture, as part of the

7th Annual Graduate Conference in European History

HISTORIANS IN SPACE

by

JÓZSEF LASZLOVSZKY
(Central European University. Budapest)

From Central Places to Places in the Centrum. Spatial Approaches in Historical Studies and their Impact on Interpretational Frameworks  

Model based spatial approaches are important methods, which are applied in different fields of scholarship (spatial economics, historical geography, settlement history, landscape archaeology). The first appearance of these methods can be dated back to the nineteenth century (von Thünen model of land use patterns), and its impact on economic history was quite significant. Other spatial approaches and their contribution to historical studies were more important in the second half of the twentieth century, although the emergence of the most important spatial approach (Central Place Theory) happened decades earlier (Walter Christaller, 1933). For a while the influence of these methods was more significant in other areas (human geography, settlement studies, etc.) but a revival of central place interpretations can be detected in the last decades of the twentieth century. Spatial approaches, interpretation of large data sets combined with spatial distribution paetterns became wide-spread with the usage of GIS (Geographical Information System), and various fields of historical studies are focusing now on the problems of the "spatial turn". The paper offers a summary of some of these approaches and survey of the most important model based interpretational frameworks.

József Laszlovszky is Professor at the CEU Department of Medieval Studies. His main areas of interest and expertise include archeology and cultural heritage of ancient and early medieval periods.