BLACK DEATH AND THE NEW SANITARY SYSTEMS 黑死病和新的卫生系统

DESIGN FOR A BETTER WORLD (设计，让生活更美好) (Part 1)

As we glimpsed in the previous article, human history is full of critical momentums that served as a thriving force for humanity towards modernization. Some of these moments have many aspects in common with the Covid-19 situation we have been immersed in since the beginning of 2020.

正如我们在前一篇文章中所看到的，人类历史充满了关键的节点，而它们是人类走向现代化的蓬勃动力。其中一些时刻与我们自2020年初以来所经历的新冠疫情有许多共同之处。

Timeline of Deadly Plagues致命瘟疫的时间线 - Source Twitter

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As shown in the graphic, History is full of similar situations that brought huge changes in societies and lifestyles. The first remarkable impact our society suffered was provoked by Black Death in the middle of the 14th Century. It caused between 25 and 50 million deaths and put on the stage the urgent need to implement improvements in the old cities’ sanitary systems.

如图所示，历史上充满了类似的情况，这些情况给社会和生活方式带来了巨大的变化。我们的社会遭受的第一次显著冲击是14世纪中叶的黑死病引起的。它造成2500万至5000万人死亡，并使人们迫切需要改善老城市的卫生系统。

Although some of the European medieval cities had already some urban installations, the main infrastructures dated from Roman Empire and required a real renovation.

虽然一些欧洲中世纪城市已经有了一些城市设施，但主要的基础设施可以追溯到罗马帝国，它们需要真正而完全的翻修。

Segovia Aqueduct (Spain) 塞戈维亚渡槽(西班牙)

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Roman architects and engineers had set a complex network of cities interconnected by roads and other infrastructures. These cities were organized around a central forum, where most public services were located, surrounded by an orthogonal and regular grid of streets. A river sometimes flowed near or through the city, providing water, transport, and sewage disposal canalization.?This water supply was often supplemented by the construction of an aqueduct that canalized water from rivers and reservoirs far from the city.

罗马建筑师和工程师建立了一个由道路和其他基础设施连接起来的复杂的城市网络。这些城市围绕着一个中心广场组织起来，在那里，大多数公共服务设施被正交和规则的街道网格所包围。河流有时在城市附近或穿过城市，提供水、交通和污水处理渠道。这种水的供应通常还需要修建引水渠，从远离城市的河流和水库中引水。

Roman Hygiene and Aqueducts罗马卫生和渡槽 - Source Roman Aqueducts

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They also modernized the concept of the sewer system, making sure all the dirty and clean waters were running in different circuits. Although all these systems were a rather modern improvement and supposed a revolution at that time, they could not support the growth and pressure of the medieval cities. ?

他们还现代化了下水道系统的概念，确保所有的脏水和干净的水在不同的回路中运行。尽管所有这些体系都是相当现代的改进，在当时被认为是一场革命，但它们无法支撑中世纪城市的发展和压力。

In the 10th and 11th centuries, with more political and economical stability, urban culture flourished again. Initially, the new cities set up in existing settlements inherited from Roman towns, but later on, cities started to be created anew, implementing the infrastructures and new urban planning improvements.

在10世纪和11世纪，随着政治和经济的稳定，城市文化再次繁荣起来。最初，新城市建立在罗马城镇遗留下来的现有定居点上，但后来，城市开始被重新创建，实施基础设施和新的城市规划改进。

Street in Dinan, France 迪南的大街 - Source Pinterest

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Although cleanliness and general life quality improved, cities’ design standards did not match the new requirements and the bigger and bigger population concentrations. Although more modern and organized, these new cities were still lacking any sanitary conditions to contain any plague or illness outbreak. Simple and basic public services as hospitals did not exist as we know them today and this function was taken by Monasteries or Churches.

尽管清洁度和总体生活质量有所提高，但城市的设计标准并不符合新的要求，人口密度也越来越大。虽然这些新城市更加现代化和组织化，但仍然缺乏任何卫生条件来遏制任何瘟疫或疾病的爆发。像医院这样简单和基本的公共服务并不像我们今天所知道的那样存在，医院这一职能由修道院或教堂承担。

Middle Age Hospital中世纪时期的医院 - Source Google Sites

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The Bubonic Plague, commonly known as Black Death hit Europe in the year 1347 and brought the biggest death rate impact ever known. With a quick spread through Europe, it killed 40% of the population between 1347 and 1352, to reach a rough estimate of 25 million people. The impact was such that the population of Western Europe did not reach the 1347 level until the beginning of the 16th century.

Bubonic Plague，俗称黑死病，在1347年袭击了欧洲，带来了有史以来最大的死亡率影响。随着它在欧洲的迅速传播，在1347年到1352年间，它杀死了欧洲40%的人口，粗略估计达到2500万人。影响如此之大，西欧的人口直到16世纪初才达到1347年的水平。

Paris Medieval City 巴黎中世纪城市 - Source Messy Nessy Chic

As far as it has been researched, the spread of the plague was caused by bacteria transmitted by fleas that used rats as their main moving host vehicle.?The lack of cleanliness, the accumulation of waste, and the constant presence of residual waters helped the rat population to thrive as the plague did too. ?

In response to this fact, one of the first improvements that cities started to implement after recovering from the plague was the development of global sanitary sewer systems that moved dirty waters and dirtiness from the public spaces.

据研究，鼠疫的传播是由跳蚤传播的细菌引起的，跳蚤以老鼠为主要的移动宿主。卫生条件的缺乏，垃圾的堆积和残留水的持续存在帮助了老鼠数量的增长，就像瘟疫一样。

为了应对这一事实，城市在从瘟疫中恢复后开始实施的第一个改进是全球卫生下水道系统的发展，该系统可以将脏水和脏物从公共空间转移出去。

Sewer System下水道系统 - Source Smithsonian Magazine

The 14th and 15th Centuries arrived with the first sewage systems along with other improvements such as pail closets,?outhouses, and?cesspits used to collect human waste and transport it to the new sewage collectors. ?The Renaissance supposed a new attempt to plan cities more consciously, improving circulation and sanitary conditions.

在14和15世纪，随着第一个污水系统的出现，其他设施也得到了改善，如桶式橱柜、户外厕所和用于收集人类粪便并将其运送到新的污水收集器的粪坑。文艺复兴提出了一种新的尝试，更有意识地规划城市，改善流通和卫生条件。

As a side effect from the Black Death impact, the Western world overcame into a much more bright and positive era, materializing in brand new art movements and architecture styles. After the plague, the 12th century?brought radical social, political, and economic transformations as well as a deep intellectual revitalization of Western Europe with strong philosophical and scientific roots.

另一方面，黑死病使西方世界加速推进到了一个更加光明和积极的时代，实现了全新的艺术运动和建筑风格。鼠疫之后，12世纪带来了激进的社会、政治和经济变革，以及有着强大哲学和科学根基的西欧深刻的知识复兴。

Left: San Martín de Frómista, Palencia (XI century) ?圣马丁大教堂 (十一世纪) - Source Wikipedia

Right: Sant Peter Basilica - Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini

右图:圣彼得大教堂-多纳托·布拉曼特 - 由米开朗基罗，卡洛·马德诺和吉安·洛伦佐·贝尔尼尼设计

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Renaissance made architecture evolve from darkness, intimacy and the total religious character, dominated by sobriety and lack of any decoration were predominant. The flourishing times brought a new magnificent architecture where the light was constantly present as an expression of hope.

文艺复兴使建筑从黑暗、亲密和完全的宗教性质演变而来，以严肃风格和少装饰性为主导。繁荣的时代带来了一个新的宏伟的建筑风格，在那里，光是希望的表达。

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Next Chapter (2):?Cholera and the new cities planning.

下一章: 霍乱与新城市规划

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