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UID:pretalx-spathum24-GKHZF3@pretalx.com
DTSTART;TZID=CET:20240927T093000
DTEND;TZID=CET:20240927T100000
DESCRIPTION:Despite war being such a major catalyst for urban change\, post
 war planning and reconstruction still remains an important field for furth
 er investigation. The existing literature has investigated this topic thro
 ugh several lens’: architecture\, urban archaeology\, heritage\, urban d
 esign\, city planning\, critical cartography\, and social geography. Exist
 ing accounts have documented the number/type of bomb attacks on selected c
 ities (e.g. Hohn\, 1991\; 1993) and the subsequent damage caused (e.g. Dur
 th and Gutschow\, 1993\; Diefendorf\, 1993)\, examined reconstruction effo
 rts\, alternative planning visions and designs and to an extent\, their le
 gacies (Pendlebury et al. 2015\; Alvanides and Ludwig\, 2023)\, and more r
 ecently shifted the focus to the maps of war themselves\, critically delin
 eating and “reading” their production\, purpose\, and the information 
 they represent and communicate (e.g. Corner\, 2011\; Oswalt\, 2019\;  Enss
  & Knauer\, 2022). Few studies\, however\, have attempted to quantitativel
 y analyse the impact of war on city transformation via the application of 
 digital humanities methods. Our paper addresses this research gap. It cont
 ributes to and expands on the existing body of knowledge\, advancing under
 standing of post-war transformation and the way in which such transformati
 on can be explored through the application of various digital humanities m
 ethods.   \n\nThis presentation showcases the findings of the BMBF-funded 
 project\, 'Sozialkartographie'\, demonstrating the multiple data science m
 ethods employed\, using a Geographical Information System (GIS)\, to explo
 re specific forms of postwar urban and social transformation in Nuremberg\
 , Cologne and Essen (Germany). Research questions included: How can the us
 e of GIS inform new questions and advance understanding of postwar transfo
 rmation? To what extent has the level of destruction in postwar cities inf
 luenced the subsequent land use mix\, urban morphology\, spatial concentra
 tion of heritage and later socioeconomic profile of the cities explored? T
 he case study cities chosen are ideal examples for the development and tes
 ting of such exploratory research methods\, as shall be summarised below. 
 \n\nWith a population of around 520\,000 individuals\, Nuremberg is the se
 cond‐largest city in Bavaria and one of the 15 largest cities in Germany
 . Nuremberg suffered heavy bombing during the Second World War with the ma
 in destruction taking place on January 2\, 1945. In 1939\, according to th
 e official census\, there were 125\,074 normal dwellings in Nuremberg and 
 a population of 423\,838 inhabitants. In May 1945 only 63\,753 dwellings w
 ere left (52.5% of the pre‐war housing stock). Of these\, 7\,238 were co
 mpletely uninhabitable because of severe damage. Only 14\,517 had been spa
 red from the destruction of the war (Durth & Gutschow\, 1993). The remaini
 ng dwellings were either severely\, moderately\, or slightly damaged.\n\nW
 hile several key textbooks provide a detailed account of the destruction o
 f German cities during the Second World War (Diefendorf 1993\; Durth & Gut
 schow 1993\; Hohn 1991\; Beseler & Gutschow 2000)\, very few authors have 
 focused specifically on the industrial city of Essen\, exploring its archi
 tecture (Boucsein 2010) or the historical role of the Krupp steel works (H
 eistermann 2004). Essen was one of 10 cities in the new Federal Republic o
 f Germany with the largest amount of rubble during the Second World War (a
 lmost 15 million cubic metres)\, in fifth place behind Berlin\, Hamburg\, 
 Cologne and Dortmund (Diefendorf 1993: 15). Essen suffered severe bomb dam
 age\, primarily because it was a target of Allied strategic (precision) bo
 mbing. This war strategy led to accurate attacks on carefully chosen indus
 trial targets\, with the goal to destroy the enemy’s military capacity. 
 Following this policy\, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) reportedly dropp
 ed 36\,429 tons of bombs on Essen during the war. March 5\, 1943\, saw the
  first major bombing raid on Essen and as part of the campaign known as th
 e ‘Battle of the Ruhr’ Essen was a repeated target\, experiencing a to
 tal of 272 air raids (Beseler & Gutschow 2000: 468).\n\nAs a target of 262
  Allied air raids since the spring of 1940\, Cologne\, Germany\, is report
 ed to have suffered 70 per cent destruction during the Second World War (W
 iktorin\, 2005). This figure\, however\, included great differences betwee
 n the city’s districts\, with the southern part of the old town sufferin
 g an estimated 93 per cent destruction\, the northern part an estimated 87
  per cent\, while districts further out were comparatively little destroye
 d. \n\nBuilding on existing post-war planning research\, we sought to deve
 lop alternative methods to improve understanding of various forms of city 
 transformation following the war. By using historic damage maps as a found
 ation\, we applied urban analytic approaches to investigate the varying im
 pact of war on the cities studied. To do so\, we brought together under-re
 searched archival material (damage maps and documentation)\, landuse maps\
 , heritage maps and socioeconomic data sets into a Geographical Informatio
 n System (GIS). Converting urban features depicted in historic maps into g
 eospatial data we mapped the spatial distribution of bomb damage at the di
 strict level\, allocating a quantifiable bomb damage index (BDI) score to 
 each district. Secondly\, we assessed the BDI alongside other spatial data
  to investigate the relationship between the level of bomb destruction and
  the transformation of the cities as observed today. \n\nWe considered the
 se findings in relation to the post-war reconstruction of the cities conce
 rned and the subsequent planning decisions implemented across them. In doi
 ng so\, we provide: 1) a digital representation of the level and spatial d
 istribution of bomb damage across the cities\, and 2) an assessment of the
  relationship between bombed areas and their present-day urban form (morph
 ological change as observed through changes in block typologies)\, landuse
 \, heritage profile and socioeconomic status. Together\, this innovative r
 esearch offers insights into the geographies of the bombed cities' pasts\,
  and provides a richer understanding of the cities' destruction\, reconstr
 uction\, and postwar legacies. The results are of interest to planners/pol
 icymakers seeking to improve future cities\, as well as to researchers see
 king to apply alternative\, digital humanities methodologies to the study 
 of historic maps.
DTSTAMP:20260314T231931Z
LOCATION:MG1 00.04 Hörsaal
SUMMARY:Applying Digital Humanities Methods to Historic Damage Maps - Serap
 him (Serafeim) Alvanides\, Dr. Carol Ludwig
URL:https://pretalx.com/spathum24/talk/GKHZF3/
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