PhD Theses linked to the project
Anna Saviano
PhD student
"The Revelation of Ostia". Architecture and the City of Rome’s Ancient Harbour in the 20th Century
supervised by Beatrice Lampariello (Super-positions, LAB, UCLouvain)
Abstract: Ostia, the ancient harbour of Rome, lay buried for centuries under layers of earth. The first excavation dates to the second half of the 19th century. However, it wasn’t until the 1920s, under the direction of Guido Calza and Italo Gismondi, that Ostia’s restoration was elevated to a model for modern architecture and urbanism under the impulse of the fascist regime. The excavation and restoration work marked the beginning of a new history of the ancient city, one that was not only physically reconstructed but also reimagined, revived and reshaped through the pages of national and international newspapers and magazines. The published images of restorations and reconstructions gradually gave them “new life” by documenting the “revelation of Ostia”. Rather than restoring the city on the model of the ancient ones, Calza outlined an image of Ostia with features like those of the city in the 1920s. He cited books and debates on architecture and the contemporary city showing how it was precisely those books and debates that have guided some of the reconstruction solutions for the port of Rome. Ostia’s urban organization and the typological structure of the insulae were presented as an example of that “healthy rationality” that recalled the theories of Sitte and Le Corbusier, providing cues for the design of the new and reinforcing the idea of continuity between the ancient and the modern. The architects and urbanists of the time embraced the lesson of Ostia, reinterpreting them in projects and using them to propose a new theory of architecture. The research aims to analyse the impact of Ostia’s rediscovery on architecture and urbanism. The goal is to demonstrate how archaeologists used contemporary theories in architecture and urbanism to re-present and re-construct the ancient image of Ostia, and likewise, how contemporary architects and urban planners have been inspired by ancient findings. The collage attached evokes this dual and complementary perspective.
Chloé Quertain
PhD student
Se loger dans la ville : leçons du passé et perspectives d’avenir. Innovation et durabilité dans l’habitat d’Ostie en réponse au boom démographique du IIe siècle p.C.
supervised by Julian Richard (UNamur) and Beatrice Lampariello (UCLouvain)
The current challenges associated with demographic growth and urbanisation, both in Belgium and worldwide, are generating an increasing demand for appropriate and sustainable urban housing. Through innovative research combining archaeology and architecture, this project proposes to examine the architectural innovations in housing developed during the Roman period to address comparable issues. The study of dwellings in Ostia, the ancient port city of Rome, seeks to understand how solutions adopted by an ancient city confronted with similar problems may inform contemporary practices.
At the beginning of the second century AD, the city of Ostia experienced significant demographic growth, leading to a radical transformation of its housing stock: large domestic residences were progressively replaced by multi-storey apartment buildings. This project aims to highlight features that resonate with current concerns, particularly with regard to sustainability, spatial organisation, and the sharing of infrastructures.
The proposed study will not only enhance our understanding of Ostian housing from a novel perspective—by identifying the effective, sustainable, and long-lasting solutions developed in response to a specific socio-economic challenge—but, above all, seeks to explore how these solutions may serve as a source of inspiration for addressing similar issues in today’s cities.
Zhaniya Idrissova
PhD student
Essays on infrastructure, institutions, and economic development. Historical roots for contemporary outcomes.
supervised by Fabio Mariani (UCLouvain)
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This dissertation studies how historical infrastructure investments and institutional arrangements shape long-run economic development. Using a combination of quasi-natural experiments, historical data, and formal modeling, the thesis investigates the mechanisms linking transportation networks, family institutions, and public institutions to human capital formation, occupational mobility, and regional growth.
The first essay examines the impact of colonial railroad construction in Kazakhstan on human capital accumulation. Exploiting spatial variation in proximity to railroads, it shows that access to transportation infrastructure increased literacy rates but that these gains did not persist across generations, highlighting limits to the intergenerational transmission of human capital.
The second essay analyzes how family institutions influence talent allocation and economic growth through intergenerational occupational mobility. An overlapping-generations model is developed in which individuals choose between family-based and market-based occupations and between arranged and individual marriage. Empirical evidence from Italy links medieval marriage reforms under the Carolingian Empire to lower consanguinity, higher occupational mobility, and higher contemporary income levels.
The third essay investigates whether the Roman Empire experienced an early escape from Malthusian constraints by quantifying the economy of Ostia. Combining archaeological evidence with spatial reconstruction of urban land use and population estimates, the study documents patterns of urban development, inequality in access to space, and the role of trade and guilds in supporting economic activity.
The fourth essay studies the relocation of Kazakhstan’s capital from Almaty to Astana as a quasi-natural experiment to identify the effect of proximity to public institutions on regional development. Using panel data and a generalized difference-in-differences framework, it finds that regions closer to the new capital experienced higher economic activity, as measured by GDP and nighttime light intensity, with migration and infrastructure expansion as key channels.
Together, these essays demonstrate that infrastructure and institutions leave persistent imprints on economic trajectories and that their effects operate through human capital formation, labor allocation, and spatial organization of economic activity.