This document summarizes a study of the literary representation of space in Lisbon between 1854-2009 based on 35 novels. The study used GIS methods to analyze how the literary space depicted in the novels compared to the actual urban growth of Lisbon. The results showed that the novels primarily depicted the 19th century city (Coroa 1) and their depicted space gradually expanded over time but remained focused on the historic core. Even as Lisbon urbanized, the literary space showed a time lag and peripheral areas were underrepresented until the last period after 1974. The integrated methodology demonstrated how literary spaces can represent social spaces over time and compared to actual urban data.

1. Textos e SIG: representações
literárias do espaço urbano (Lisboa,
1854-2009)
Daniel Alves (IHC) and Ana Isabel Queiroz (IELT)

2. Introdução

3. O imaginário literário de Lisboa
A representação literária de Lisboa foi
estudada com base em 35romances
publicados entre 1854 e 2009, escritos
por 30 autores, incuíndo alguns dos
mais conhecidos da literatura nacional.

4. Definindo o “espaço literário”
• O território temporal e geograficamente
referenciado como cenário da acção ou
evocado pelos personagens do romance, que
pode ser encontrado no território real e como
tal desenhado num mapa

5. Área de estudo – Lisboa (84,62 km2)

6. Metodologia

7. Espaço urbano e ‘chronotopes’: ESPAÇO
Coroa 3 – a área da cidade
que mais cresceu em
termos demográficos e
urbanos desde a década
de 1960
Coroa 2 –
crescimento
urbano e
demográfico até à
decada de 1950
Coroa 1 – a cidade do
século XIX

8. Espaço urbano e ‘chronotopes’: TEMPO
• 1º período – entre 1854 e 1910 (Monarquia)
• 2º período - entre 1910 e 1926 (República)
• 3º período - entre 1926 e 1974 (Estado Novo)
• 4º período - entre 1974 e 2009 (Democracia)

9. Análise ao “espaço literário”
• Distribuição espacial:
– Average Nearest Neighbourhood
• Espaço e tempo:
– Chi-square
– Spearman Rank Coefficient
• Densidade e dimensão:
– Kernel point density
– Home Range

10. ‘Espaço literário’ = Home range 95%

11. Resultados

12. Distribuição espacial
Locais:
Coroa 1 = 79%
Coroa 2 = 18%
Coroa 3 = 3%

13. Distribuição espacial
• Average Nearest Neighbourhood:
– Clusters na cidade do século XIX (coroa 1);
– Aleatório no resto (coroa 2 e 3).
• A literatura sobre Lisboa tende a representar o
espaço urbano histórico e consolidado, ou o
“espaço social” da cidade.

14. Space and time (places)
Ring 1 Ring 2 Ring 3
N % N % N % All
1st 225 87 31 12 4 2 260
2nd 197 88 22 9,8 5 2 224
3rd 192 79 43 18 7 3 242
4th 177 66 77 29 14 5 268
• Although literature concentrates its imaginary
in the old city between the 1st and the 3rd
periods, with time, the literary space tends to
expand from the city core into urbanized areas
of the first half of the 20th century

15. Space and time (areas)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4
Area Km2
Area of each
novel with
tendency
line
Periods
• Spearman = 0,46898 (p-value < 0.01)
• With the exception of the novels from the 3rd
period, the tendency of the literary space is to
embrace ever larger areas of the city

16. Location, density and dynamics (places by period) I
1st
2nd
3rd 4th

17. Location, density and dynamics (places by period) II
• There is a gradual fragmentation of the literary
space, and a change in its composition; the core,
while located in substantially the same area, it
becomes increasingly thinner
• Until the end of the 3rd period, it's the 19th century
city that attract the writers attention; in the 4th
period we observe the implosion of the aggregate
core and other centers of lower expression become
visible, now also in ring 2
• This change can result from the consolidation of
urban experiences in other areas of the modern city
as well as transformations regarding city's mobility

18. Dimension and dynamics (areas by period) I
1st
2nd
3rd 4th

19. Dimension and dynamics (areas by period) II
• The common literary space is very restricted in the
first and third periods, seemingly expanding in the
second, and essentially in the last period
• The cumulative space seems to evolve differently,
apparently falling between the first and third
periods, and then expanding very significantly in the
last period
• The results suggest, for a period of more than 100
years, between 1852 and 1974, a literary imaginary
spatially linked to the nineteenth century city

20. Lisbon imaginary vs. urban history I

21. Lisbon imaginary vs. urban history II
• The ‘literary space’ does not match the urban
space and there is a time-lag for embedding it
in the imagined literary scenario.
• A small core-area, correspondent to a part of
the city center, persists as literary space in all
the novels.
• Peripheral areas of Lisbon were absent or
under-represented until 1974, although their
inclusion in the city limits dates back to 1886.

22. Conclusions
• An integrative methodology to conciliate a subjective
and an objective reading of the city space; the
methodology used in this research becomes
comparable and replicable using another literary
corpus or other geography
• Literary spaces of each of the historical periods gain
the representation of social space, with significance
for the history and geography of the city
• The incorporation of dimension and time allows
comparisons of the literary space of the novels, or
sets of novels, between themselves and with other
historical urban data

23. Thank you!
Presentation based on:
• Daniel Alves and Ana Isabel Queiroz, "A new
approach to study urban space and literary
representation using GIS: Lisbon, Portugal,
1852-2009“, Social Science History, Winter
2013 (volume 37:4) (to be published).