Urban wellbeing and recovery: the case of fire disasters in the late medieval Low Countries
The wide range of preventative spatial and material measures, vigilance around everyday dangers, and firefighting protocols could not avoid that incidents – small and large – happened from time to time. This paper explores the impact of large fires and seeks to reconstruct socio-political practicalities and material spatial challenges, but also experience and emotions. It asks, in other words, what did it mean for a city to be burned? And how did communities try to steer towards recovery, perhaps even improvement? The paper discusses two contrasting case studies about recovery and accountability after a fire: in Dordrecht in 1457, and in Brielle almost a hundred years later, in 1548. The emphasis on a collective future in Dordrecht rather than om punishing the misdeeds of the past was essential because people had to be encouraged to stay and invest in new buildings and infrastructure. By contrast, the case of Brielle shows that recovery after fires was much more difficult when economic and political contexts were unfavourable. Such pre-existing circumstances impeded coping with the destruction and bouncing back.