Cemeteries and urban form: a historico-geographical approach

Abstract

Research in urban morphology rarely takes account of the specific forms of burial grounds. This paper offers a synthesis of how Christian cities of the dead mirror the cities of the living, and provides an overview of different Western European ‘funeral epochs’. The shifting location of burial grounds relates to major changes in town planning and building. Adopting a historico-geographical approach, micro-morphological transformations of grave-plot forms and their cardinal orientations and accessibility are explored in the context of changing religious beliefs, rules on hygiene, and practical and aesthetic considerations. The role of cemeteries in fringe-belt development is presented, using Vienna as a historical case study.