Landscape Biography as a strategy for interdisciplinary urban history and heritage research

This article reflects on "landscape biography" as a strategy for interdisciplinary urban history research. It discusses the application of the approach in Challenging Testaccio, a joint project of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Soprintendenza Speciale per il Colosseo, il Museo Nazionale Romano e l'Area archeologica di Roma, in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome and the Faculty of Architecture of RomaTreUniversity. This ongoing project aims at a diachronic history of the district from antiquity onwards and also studies the evolution of heritage claims and values related to the area. It seeks as well to contribute to present-day heritage management concerns, outlining amongst others the contours of a Spatial Data Infra-structure for information on the heritage and history of the district. The article reflects on Challenging Testaccio to identify the intellectual and practical opportunities and challenges of conducting such an interdisciplinary research programme that crosses the borders between archaeology, history, heritage management, spatial planning and community formation and to scrutinise the merits of the Landscape Biography approach to guide such a programme.