Rural settlement and economic development in Southern Italy: Troia and its contado, c.1020 - c.1230

The history of urban life in Southern Italy during the eleventh and twelfth centuries was particularly disjointed. At varying points many of the regions' cities were subject to the domination of petty Lombard princes, Byzantine emperors, Norman dukes and, as one passes into the twelfth century, Sicilian kings and German emperors. This paper uses the case of the northern Apulian city of Troia to show that, below this surface of political discontinuity, it is possible to discern a different understanding of an urban history. In highlighting the significance of the economic development of Troia's surrounding territory and the manner in which this created a damaging rivalry with the neighbouring settlement of Foggia, this essay emphasises the need to take into account local (and not only wider-ranging political) influences on the shaping of medieval south Italian urban life. In this context the paper also considers the importance of the development of a stable local government and a burgeoning civic conscience at Troia.     

Esquisses géographiques des récits cinématographiques Canadiens contemporains

Films carry an original geographic discourse. Beyond the vision of an author, they often reflect a society's perspective on territories. The goal of this research is to study the geographic discourse developed by Canadian cinema through an analysis of the places structuring Canadian cinematographic narratives. This analysis is based on the systematic study of a selection of 46 contemporary Canadian films. These films have been transformed into a database of 2200 places using an original geographic reading grid. Analysis of these places identifies the existence of territories under‐ and over‐represented by Canadian cinema, as well as territories of consensus and divergence that exist between different categories of Canadian cinema such as Quebecois, anglophone, and hybrid. Some interesting results include the general lack of interest in the southern hemisphere—notably Latin America—as well as in the Nordic territories (outside of First Nations cinema). It is also interesting to note the quasi‐absence of Vancouver on the screen, while Toronto and the United States appear recurrently. But the most striking result is probably the profound divergence in the way Canadian cinema treats the province of Quebec in general, and the city of Montreal in particular. Montreal is indeed the perfect example of a space of divergence: the city is heavily represented in Quebecois films, but completely ignored in the rest of Canadian cinematographic production. This deep opposition illustrates the importance of downtown Montreal as a symbolic space of Quebec national identity.     

Variabilité et fréquence des cycles de gel‐dégel dans la région de Québec, 1977–2006

Freeze‐thaw cycles are most common at the beginning or near the end of the winter season. These cycles have various effects on the ecosystems of Eastern Canada, affecting both biotic and abiotic components of temperate cold environments. Using air temperature minima and maxima from four meteorological stations close to Québec City, we determined the frequency of daily freeze‐thaw cycles for the last 30 years. The results show no significant increase in the number of freeze‐thaw cycles despite a small increase in air temperature. Polynomial curves describing the relationship between mean air temperatures and the number of freeze‐thaw cycles were calculated. Based on these equations and anticipating a climate change scenario, we projected future freeze‐thaw cycles. Assuming a 5 °C increase in mean air temperatures by 2100, we estimated that the number of days with a freeze‐thaw cycle could increase by approximately 20 days per winter. The increase in the number of such cycles will be concentrated during the coldest months of the winter (January and February).     

Die Deutschlandreise des René Descartes

Due to lacking reliable sources almost no details were available on the educational journey of the joung Descartes. Moreover, contradictions in several publications resulted in the doubt, whether these events, which are so important for the history of science, ever hapened at all. Folowing careful and comprehensive research at the City Archives Ulm, the Hessian City Archives Darmstadt and the Bavarian State Library in Munich the author found evidence that René Descartes met the mathematician and master fortress builder Johann Faulhaber in Ulm.¹ Now, the first summary of Descartes' travel report can be given based on further findings (in reliable sources) and corroborated by numerous facts.     

La théorie des éléments de Christophorus Clavius et l'idée du globe terraqué

Christophorus Clavius' Theory of the Elements and the Idea of the Terraqueous Globe. The need to reconcile Aristotle's theory of elementary spheres with the evidence of earth above sea level – the so‐called ‘terra firma’ – induced an important conceptual shift. As a consequence anti‐Aristotelian arguments were brought to the fore in order to be incorporated into the very same Aristotelian tradition. The German Jesuit Christophorus Clavius played a momentous role in this process. He introduced the idea of the terraqueous globe into the Scholastic cosmology, modifying the logical frame of Aristotelian physics. The present work analyses Clavius' theory as well as the procedures he considers to reach his purpose. He used a combinatorial approach to study the relations occurring between the four elements – earth, water, air and fire – and analysed their relations from a physical perspective, proposing a possible structure of the sublunary world.     

The makers of British towns: architects, builders and property owners, c.1850–1939

This paper examines the individuals and bodies engaged in the development of British towns and cities between the mid-nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth century. Particular attention is given to the supplanting of local owners, architects and builders by external firms and the extent to which activity was concentrated among fewer firms over time. Previous findings are re-examined and synthesized, and the results of new research are presented. A major source of information is building applications submitted to local authorities. The most important changes took place in the two decades following the First World War. Having had a major role in the nineteenth century, especially as providers of capital, private individuals ceased to have a significant place in urban development by the 1930s, other than in their role as owner-occupiers and owners of potential development land. Responsibility for the establishment of institutional sites rested with a variety of individuals and organizations in the nineteenth century, but became much more concentrated in the hands of local authorities in the inter-war period. Significant numbers of non-local architects were engaged in the design of public buildings as early as the middle of the nineteenth century, but building work of all kinds was still being undertaken almost entirely by local builders even in the 1930s. The large-scale introduction of non-local architects in the inter-war years was related to the influx of non-local owners. On the whole, local influences declined sooner in towns close to major cities.     

Pottery production at Tell es-Safi/Gath: a Longue Durée perspective

The development of pottery production during the Bronze and Iron Ages at Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel, is examined based on the analysis of 224 pottery vessels representing most periods within this ca. 1700 years time frame. The main tools employed were visual examination of manufacturing techniques and petrographic thin section analysis, all of which was conducted on the entire group. This was combined with a chronological, functional, typological, and cultural characterization of the samples. The results indicate a tendency of a diachronic shift from the use of calcareous-based clays to non-calcareous clays, from the Bronze Age towards the late Iron Age, although the primary shaping techniques do not change. Intentional tempering, when relevant, is mostly type- or function-dependent. It is suggested that this trend, possibly evident at other sites in the southern Levant as well, may be related to the employment of higher firing temperatures by the potters. This phenomenon may also be related to the decrease in the relative amount of decorated pottery that is seen during the late Iron Age.     

L'identification des zones calmes et un diagnostic d’équité environnementale à Montréal

Quiet urban areas are places with low noise levels that can help people to support physical and mental wellness. This paper has two objectives: to identify quiet urban areas in Montreal and to check for the presence of environmental inequities in access to such areas for vulnerable groups (children, older people, low‐income individuals, and visible minorities). Using a GIS‐based methodology, 2,282 quiet urban areas were identified in Montreal. The results of a mixed effects logistic regression model analysis showed that there are no major inequities in access to quiet urban areas for the population groups studied. The analysis did, however, revealed substantial spatial disparities in terms of the distribution of quiet urban areas across the boroughs and municipalities examined.     

Une histoire de résidus : à propos des facteurs généraux et locaux de croissance régionale au Canada,de 1971 à 2001

Starting from an econometric model of local employment growth, applied to Canada (1971–2001), residuals—relative to model predictions—are analyzed over time and over space, in turn allowing us to draw a distinction between general explanatory variables and factors of a more local, cyclical or accidental nature. The model's explanatory power grows over time, founded on variables such as urban size, market access and industrial structure, allowing us to conclude that local employment growth in Canada follows an increasingly geographically predictable pattern. However, an examination of the residuals reveals more localized processes. Growth volatility is most manifest in Alberta and British Columbia, home to the most erratic local economies. Emerging patterns are visible in the last period, most notably the underperformance of Northern Ontario and of non‐metropolitan communities between Windsor and Québec City, lying along the Great Lakes and the Saint Lawrence. The over‐performance—compared to model predictions — of small and mid‐sized towns in south‐eastern Québec can, on the other hand, be interpreted as a sign of truly local social processes, generally associated with a particularly dynamic local entrepreneurial class.