Three Examples from Early to High Medieval Northern Europe
10.1515/9783110677065.Abstract
The port as an interface between the town and its (maritime-fluvial) hinterland is a place of complex spatial interactions. Habourscapes take this multidimensionality and multivocality into account. In this paper, the concept of habourscapes is presented to describe the multidimensionality of ports as an urban area. Starting from Appadurais’ concepts of (-)spaces and (-)flows, the contribution attempts to explore five ‘scapes’ to present multiple interwoven practices. This is done using three examples (Haithabu, Schleswig, Lübeck), which paradigmatically represent specific ‘development phases’ of urbanity as well as specific ‘port types’.
