Fragments from many pasts: layering the toponymic tapestry of Milan

• Published in: Journal of historical geography Vol. 37; no. 3; pp. 370 - 384
• Main Authors: Tucci, Michele, Ronza, Rocco W., Giordano, Alberto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Elsevier Ltd 01-07-2011; San Francisco, CA Academic Press; New York, NY
• Subjects: Bgi / Prodig; Discourse analysis; Geographic information science; Historical GIS; Human geography; Ideology; Milan (Italy); Spatial analysis; Streetscape; The city. Urban growth and morphology; Toponymy; Urban areas; Urban geography; Italy; Milano; Lombardia; Milan Italy; Spatial analysis; Historical GIS; Toponymy; Streetscape; Milan (Italy); Cartography; Twentieth Century; Town; Cultural landscape; Neighbourhood; Roman era; Historic centre; Geographical information system; Spatial variation; Place names
• ISSN: 0305-7488; 1095-8614
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhg.2011.02.001

In the recent literature on the cultural politics of naming, toponyms and street names are increasingly read within the wider social–historical context upon which naming is contingent. In this perspective, naming is often seen as an act of power and a way to inscribe an ideological discourse into the landscape. In this article, we analyze the street names currently inscribed in the historical center of the Italian city of Milan, Italy as a reflection of its long and contested social and political history. Fragments of all the different toponymic regimes and hegemonic discourses that took over one after the other over time have remained inscribed in Milan’s street network, originating a complex tapestry in which different pasts revive and conflicting ideologies co-exist. In this context, we examine the role Geographical Information Science (GIScience) methods and technologies play in quantifying, revealing, and visualizing the spatial patterns of downtown Milan’s toponymic texture at the urban scale and at the scale of the six historical neighborhoods.