Cities hiding the Forests: Wood supply, hinterlands and urban Agency in the Southern Low Countries 13th-18th centuries

The main purpose of the chapter is not simply to update our knowledge on the urban wood supply of the cities in the Southern Low Countries. Highly urbanized since the end of the Middle Ages, the Southern Low Countries provide a fertile ground for testing traditional narratives and historical models as well as for developing a more in-depth picture of the city-resources relationship. The first part of the chapter outlines the way cities were supplied with timber and wood products. The second part explores how these relationships were tied up to numerous factors, ecological, technical, social as well political. Doing so, this chapter aims at releasing new lines of inquiry for further research.