Giacomo Bonan Bücher

Focusing on a case study of wood usage, the book examines the conflicts arising from its role as a key energy source and essential raw material. It explores the interplay between state policies, local communities, and environmental concerns, highlighting the complexities of resource management in forested areas. Through this lens, the narrative delves into broader themes of governance, sustainability, and the socio-economic implications of forestry practices.

The material and energy flows that characterized the metabolism of preindustrial and industrial societies were organized through complex infrastructures based on interwoven social and natural elements. Analyzing infrastructures from many methodological and thematic perspectives, the present volume adopts an extensive periodization to identify the undeniable changes caused by industrialization and the persistence of pre-existing features and dynamics. The contributions range from the late Middle Ages to the 1990s and deepen historical characteristics of urban metabolism, the study of energy systems and their transitions, and the management and control of water resources. These reveal the strategies societies and states adopted to transform and adapt their surrounding environment in a constant and challenging equilibrium of diverse interests, whose impact over time has had environmental consequences on a global scale.