CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2015
| Author | Zhang, Jian |
|---|---|
| Title | Deal with the Supreme, Authoritative Space and Commercial Space in Sung Dynasty Kaifeng and Renaissance Florence |
| Summary | This thesis is motivated by the recent trend of comparative urbanism aimed at achieving a more dynamic and critical understanding of the world of ordinary cities through provincializing scholarly interpretations dominated by theorization or generalization based on a limited vision of urban experience. It intends to extend our understanding of cities and challenge some stereotypical misconceptions of European cities as well as Asian cities through comparing the city of Kaifeng during the Sung dynasty, and the city of Florence around the Renaissance period. Under the broad context of a near-global urban expansion and commercial revolution ranging from Asia to Europe during the 10th to 14th century, this thesis questions the socio-political implication of commercial expansion in urban space through observing relation between authoritative space and commercial space in the two cities. This thesis, beginning with a brief introduction to the subject matter and ending with a conclusive part, is arranged into four main chapters: the first chapter for clarifying major conceptual and methodological issues; the second for articulating commercial revolution in the regional and urban systems; the third identifies major social and material changes with a focus on the order of space; the fourth chapter focuses on the commercial expansion, the entangled relationship imprinted in the urban spaces of both cities, and after the clarification of this relation, the power negotiated with the supreme authority in open space will be discussed. Besides revealing salient phenomena that occur in different settings, this research will also highlight the critical differences emerging in the course of comparison. |
| Supervisor | Szőnyi, György E. |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2015/zhang_jian.pdf |
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