Beyond Urban Hinterlands. Political Ecology, Urban Metabolism and Extended Urbanisation in Medieval England.

Drawing on insights from contemporary urban theory, this contribution questions where medieval urbanisation took place. It is proposed that urbanisation is a process which extends beyond towns and cities, which are merely a representation of a more expansive and transformative process. Through discussion of building stone, grain production, salt extraction, woodlandmanagement and mineral exploitation, it is argued that medieval urbanisation was generative of political ecological relations which challenge prevailing understandings of the rural/urban divide and re-frame urbanisation as a metabolic process. The discussion utilises contemporary concepts of ‘extended urbanisation’, ‘urban metabolism’ and ‘political ecology’ to re-frame perceptions of medieval-urban relations and the notion of urban hinterland.