Reconstructing Lisbon’s blue history: water, disaster, and transformation in early modern waterscapes

Lisbon’s early modern waterscapes reveal a dynamic interplay between water, urban life, and socioecological transformation. This study demonstrates how infrastructures like tide mills, fountains, and sewer systems shaped daily existence while embedding hierarchies of race, gender, and power in human-water relations. By employing a blue microspatial method that integrates textual and visual sources, the research uncovers a latent hydroaesthetic vision—one that reframes water as the medium through which Lisbon’s identity was co-constituted amid earthquakes, tsunamis, and imperial expansion. The findings highlight how environmental volatility and archival fragmentation intersect to offer a methodological model for studying cities reshaped by natural forces.

León Báez, J. F. (2026). Reconstructing Lisbon’s blue history: water, disaster, and transformation in early modern waterscapes. Water History, 18(3), 497–522. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12685-026-00394-z