Measuring Urban Mobility and Accessibility in a Mesoamerican Context

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ancient Mesoamerican and Andean Cities: Old Debates, New Perspectives" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

While spatial analysis has become commonplace in archaeology, the social implications of mobility and accessibility in urban contexts remain an aspect that can be studied in much more depth. Drawing theories and methodologies from urban design has long been a staple for understanding the lived built environment, and while the lack of direct observation and the fragmentary nature of the data are challenging, they also present opportunities. Teotihuacan, extensively and accurately mapped since the 1970s, presents an ideal occasion for such analyses. Research along these lines, using methodologies such as Space Syntax, has already been carried out, but recent projects have produced lidar data that could be used for a precise understanding of spatial contexts that include the vertical aspects of the city, which have traditionally been hard to map and analyse even in modern environments. By bringing techniques and theories from contemporary Urban Studies, the understanding of how areas within a city compare to one another in regards to mobility and accessibility, a deeper understanding of social differentiation within Teotihuacan can emerge. I will propose how building upon previous work could be accomplished using newer technologies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ancient Mesoamerican and Andean Cities: Old Debates, New Perspectives   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38114.0