FBK-ISIG | Lisbeth Rodrigues | MOVE: The cost of distance in early ...
About this Event
MOVE: The cost of distance in early modern Portugal
Governments worldwide spend millions addressing regional inequalities, a crisis rooted in uneven connectivity and infrastructure investment. In Portugal today, the gulf between vibrant coastal hubs and the vulnerable interior persists. MOVE confronts this crisis, arguing that these imbalances are not accidental but the quantifiable legacy of the early modern period. MOVE replaces the conventional narrative, asserting that friction, not politics, was the primary structural barrier to market integration, dictating the limits of state power and economic reach. The project performs a spatial historical archaeology by analysing how geographical constraints, transportation technology, and state/fiscal policies created pervasive “friction” in the movement of people, goods, and information. It combines a wide range of archival sources (tax records, notarial deeds, travel accounts, military logistics) with spatial analysis to achieve three core objectives: 1) calculate the economic cost of distance for different travellers and commodities, 2) produce historical maps showing the evolution of communication networks, identifying and tracking “highly-connected” and “peripheral” regions, and 3) determine the correlation between historical accessibility and key indicators (urbanization rates, market integration, and the diffusion of innovations). MOVE will demonstrate how high movement costs created poverty traps and uneven regional development and offer a data-driven framework for modern infrastructure planning (SDG 9) and the pursuit of inclusive growth (SDG 10).
Lisbeth RODRIGUES | Universidade do Porto
Coordinamento scientifico:
Anna Clara Basilicò (FBK-ISIG)
Irene Fattacciu (FBK-ISIG)
Alessandra Quaranta (FBK-ISIG)
Massimo Rospocher (FBK-ISIG)
Sandra Toffolo (FBK-ISIG)
Ciclo di seminari: : “Tavola ovale di storia moderna“
Evento in lingua inglese.
La presentazione si terrà in presenza presso l'Aula Piccola di FBK Aula Piccola fino ad esaurimento posti e online.
La registrazione è richiesta entro il giorno 17 giugno 2026 ore 12:00.
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