Seite - 7 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

1 Introduction 7 Water infrastructure,water politics,water economies Water isaprerequisite for livelihood,health, foodsecurity,andgeneraleconomicgrowth.Water systemsarepartof thedevelopmentofurban infrastructure,both tangibleand intangible.They encompass the supply of drinking and industrialwater, aswell as ports, bridges, floodprotec- tion, and irrigation. Access to and availability ofwater could be limited and could function or beusedasa trigger forconflictsandstruggles,bothwithin thecityandalsoatahighergeopoli- tical level. Theurbaneconomycanbe relatedalmost exclusively towater asa transport system (e.g. port cities).At the same time,water is a resource for commerceandcrafts, not only in the city, but also in theurbanhinterland. The control of rivers for trade, but also access to sources and lakes forurbanwater supplies illustrateshowwater systemsbecame integrated intourban development. SophieBouffieranalyses several of theaqueducts of Syracuse. Thebuilding techniquesof threeof them(Tremilia,Ninfeo,Paradiso)showwelldevelopedtechnologicalknowledge,while, at the same time, they demanded an immense investment of working time and labour. The infrastructuralmeasures can possibly be related to the dynasty of theDeinomenids (Gelon) in the5thcenturyBC,whenSyracuseexperiencedaphaseof importanturbangrowth.TheGalermi aqueduct canpossiblybe linked toHieron II (beforeBC213/12). In the caseof thewater supply of the city of Syracuse, one could thus speakof a realwater policy. Betty Arndt’s contribution addresses private and public water management in the Late Medieval andPost-Medieval townofGöttingen. She startswith adiscussionof the commercial use ofwater. In addition toprivateuses, inner-city crafts and small businesses (especially tan- ners)neededcomplexwater infrastructure (e.g. sewersorpipesystems).Likewindmills,water- millswerean important factor inurbaneconomy.However, therewerenumerousconflicts, e.g. for fishermen.With the installationofpublicwells andwater arts,watermanagementnot only attainedanewadministrative relevance;wateralsobecameanewcomponent in theperception of urban space. Last but not least, the author also examines the treatment of liquid and semi- liquidwaste thatcouldcontaminate thegroundwater.Thebasicneed forwateronaphysiologi- cal basis is the root cause for water becoming a resource, and the abundance or scarcity of water then provides the cause (or not) of conflict. ElisabethGruber’s article investigates the influence water had on urban communities in the Middle Ages by using the example of the towns of Krems and Stein on the Danube, from LateMedieval up to EarlyModern times. She discusses the role of water for late medieval towns and their inhabitants. Access to water is alwaysassociatedwithquestionsofuseand regulation.This interactioncanbeorganisedatan individual level, in communities or betweendifferent groups of actors.Whetherwith regard to fishing rights, tolls,marketplaces or evenbridges,water is not only a contested or connecting resource, but also apotentially dangerous element of life and the economy. Environmental hazards: floodsandother dangers Asdensely populated settlement systems, cities are highly exposed to environmental impacts. Environmental issues are not an invention of the recent past andwere particularly well per- ceived inpre-modern times. Extremenatural events, suchasunexpecteddroughts or ‘floodsof the century’, threatened the urban landscapes. Continuously recurring natural events such as floods forced urban residents to develop prevention strategies and tominimize risks. Last but not least, the contamination of drinking water or water scarcity due to industrial activities forced inner-city discussions anddemandedcoping strategies. In his contribution,ChristianRohrdiscusses these aspects froma long-termperspective, from theMiddle Ages to EarlyModern times. The differentiation betweennatural hazards and (natural) disasters is of crucial significance for the understanding of pre-modern natural phe-