Hypotesis on Transcribing Historical Sources to Represent the Evolution of Geo-cultural Landscapes: Natural Environment, Settlements, and Hazards

Abstract

The paper proposes a methodology for the analysis and representation of Geo-Cultural Landscapes. These are contexts where resources, risks, and culture structurally coexist, defining a territory’s identity through the age-old dialectic between natural dynamics and human activity. The research focuses on the Acque Albule Basin (Lazio), an exemplary model characterised by the co-presence of significant natural resources and considerable geological hazards, such as karst phenomena and subsidence. The aim is to reconstruct the diachronic transformations of this complex territorial model through a systematic and holistic reading of figurative historical sources (pre-geodetic cartography from the 16th-18th centuries), overcoming the limitations of sectoral approaches. The method articulates a critical process of transcribing and vector-redrawing historical cartographic information within a digital environment. Through in-depth philological analysis, data extracted from four significant pre-geodetic maps were translated into a new Map of Represented Land Use (Carta dell’Uso del Territorio Rappresentato - CUTR). The alphanumeric data is visualised in a series of mappings, which synthesise the process of representing the past and the place as it is today; their interrogation can reveal surviving identity traits, potentially aiding in identifying environmental risk scenarios. In this context, the study aims to present the results of a procedural approach designed to construct information into new, valuable mappings. This approach, for the first time, enables a comprehensive utilisation of what was only partially represented across the various figurative historical sources.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.35.2025.3