Scaling water (re)sources in the premodern Mediterranean: drivers, practices, and expectations

18.03.2026 bis 01.04.2027

This workshop examines how water was regulated, used, and understood at different spatial scales in the premodern Mediterranean. As scholars have pointed out, the scales on which water management takes place are politically and socially contingent: scale is constructed, at once fluid and fixed, and relational within and across communities. This reflects both the physical reach of water systems and infrastructures (e.g., from households and neighbourhoods to cities, regions, and larger polities) and the social, religious, legal, and intellectual arenas in which water is defined, argued over, and made meaningful. We ask how and why different scales of understanding and managing water were created, challenged, and negotiated in different historical contexts.