It was in the spirit of reconciliation after the
Second World War that, in 1955, The International Commission
for the History of Towns recommended the publication of a
series of European national historic towns atlases in order to
facilitate comparative urban studies and encourage a better understanding
of common European roots. Forty years later we have come a long
way towards a united Europe, but the need to recognize our shared
heritage in spite of its historical diversity still exists.
The centrepiece of the Historic Towns Atlases is
the town plan seen as a historical document. Although advances
in urban archaeology since the 1960s have highlighted the problematic
relationship between the oldest extant town plan and the actual
origins of a town, the early town plans are still a prerequisite
for the better understanding of the evolution of our towns.
These atlases are not only an academic exercise,
serving as source material for urban history, however, they can
also provide guidelines for planners and last, but not least,
the atlases are a goldmine for the local historian.
It was the aim of The International Commission
for the History of Towns from the very beginning that the
atlases should have a unified concept. The establishment of strict
guidelines ensured that the different national atlases all cover
important common ground.
The first two presidents of the Commission H. Aubin
and H. Ammann, began the groundwork for the project in 1955. A
generally acceptable cartographic scheme for historic towns atlases
was discussed at the 1967 meeting of the Commission in Switzerland,
and this scheme was finally adopted at the 1968 meeting in Oxford
under the enthusiastic leadership of M.D. Lobel and Heinz Stoob.
The earliest of the atlases to reach fruition was
the British one, with a first volume of Historic Towns in
1969. This was followed in 1973 by the first volume of the Deutscher
Städteatlas. Since then a number of Historic Towns Atlas
series have been launched in accordance with the Commission's
recommendations. Now that Europe is at a turning point, with
the former communist countries free to join the project, the Commission,
under the presidency of Professor Adriaan Verhulst, has invited
a critical review of the atlas work.
The guide-lines of the Commission propose three principal
maps for each town:
- A multi-coloured plan reconstructing the built-up
area of the town as it appeared in the early nineteenth century
at a scale of 1:2500.
- A map of the surrounding region in the early nineteenth
century at 1:50 000.
- 3. A modern town plan at 1: 5000.
The merit of the early nineteenth century pla is
that it shows the pattern of house-plots before industrialisation
which allows on the one hand a retrogressive town plan analysis
and on the other hand an analysis of changes associated with the
impact of industrialisation. - Many atlases include thematic maps
relating to the topographical growth of a town or to its early
social topography. Photographic facsimiles of important early
maps and views are also included. Some atlases provide a body
of classified topographical information drawn largely from original
sources.
What has been achieved? A questionnaire conducted
in 1993 was answered by colleagues from eighteen different countries.
Circa 280 towns have been published so far, more or less
along the lines recommended by the Commission.
The details which follow are based on Urban History through
Maps, Complete list of Historic Towns Atlases published under
the auspices of The International Commission for the History of
Towns and the patronage of the Crédit Communal de Belgique.
Compiled by Anngret SIMMS & Ferdinand OPLL, Brussels 1995
and updated 1996
