Towards an urban historical-environmental atlas


The IT Urban Historical-Environmental Atlas of the City of Modena is part of the project entitled "Sustainable Cities. History, nature, environment", developed and implemented by the Urban History Research and Documentation Office of the Councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Modena. The Atlas is meant to be a prototype to organise information on the transformation of the urban environment, from the original natural setting of the territory to modern time, highlighting the connections among natural matrixes, the development of settlements and the connected human activities, against the background of their historical development.
The aims of the Atlas include: providing information accessible to the citizens, developing knowledge on the territory transformation processes and the historical and environmental heritage, supporting planning activities aimed at the sustainable development of the city.
This web site is the provisional synthesis of some specific research projects embracing different disciplines conducted by various researchers and institutes on the historical evolution of the territory of Modena. It is meant to be a starting point for a larger and more complex effort aimed at organising the information available on the transformation of the urban environment, from the original natural setting of the territory to modern time, highlighting the connections among natural matrixes, the development of settlements and the connected human activities, against the background of their historical development.
The Project is implemented with the collaboration of the Councillor for Environmental Policies and the Councillor for Town Planning. The Project is supported by a contribution of the Ministry for the Environment and the Protection of the Territory and the Foundation of the Modena Savings Bank.

How to consult the web site

The web site can be consulted according to three thematic lines identified by three keywords: geo-morphology and mankind, historical settlement and development. The geo-morphology and mankind items includes the results of research on the geo-morphological evolution of the territory of Modena and its relations to the presence of human beings starting from the high Middle Ages. The historical settlement item proposes the analysis of the urban and rural landscape and its transformations between the 16th and 18th century. The item development illustrates the issues related to the processes connected to modern human activities and their impact on the natural environment.
By means of the tree-menu on the left side, the different pages and documents can be visited. The territory is represented through diachronic maps, i.e. illustrating meaningful historical moments, which may be loaded by clicking on the corresponding coloured chronological button
The "Map library" hosts all the maps available, which may be downloaded in pdf format.
The “Chronology” proposes the meaningful events which marked some of the interactions between man and the environment.