A study of the morphological evolution of Milan's urban cemeteries since the 19th century

Cities are aggregations accommodating people's lives, and cemeteries, as final abodes for people, constitute fundamental components of the overall urban morphology. Cemeteries function not only as burial sites but also as carriers for the spirit and memory of the living; this special cultural attribute enables them to enduringly influence the process of urban morphological evolution. Taking Milan, Italy's long-standing economic and cultural center, as a representative case, its urban cemetery morphology, throughout more than two millennia of history, has continually interacted with the urban economy and social activities of different periods, becoming an 'index fossil' that reflects and reveals the laws of urban spatial evolution. Milan's urban cemeteries are taken as the primary research object in this study. Their morphological evolution process is deeply investigated using the methods and perspectives of urban morphology, connecting it with complex socio-political-economic developments. The aim is to systematically explore the main characteristics and driving mechanisms of urban cemetery morphological evolution. The research comprises three main parts. The first part researches the theoretical methods of typo-morphology, synthetically analyzes the theoretical frameworks of the British Conzenian school of urban morphology and the Italian school of architectural typology, and focuses on elaborating the research content of fringe belt theory, providing guiding methods for the subsequent urban cemetery morphology research. Under this theoretical framework, the second part, covering Chapters 3 and 4, conducts a phased diachronic investigation and a hierarchical comprehensive analysis of Milan's urban cemetery morphology, emphasizing the description of the cemetery as a fringe belt element and its dynamic relationship with the city at different hierarchical scales. Based on this, it systematically summarizes the complexity behind its morphological evolution. The third part undertakes exploratory research, carrying out a cross-cultural comparative analysis of cemetery morphology in different cities to examine the uniqueness and universality of cemetery morphological types from a broader perspective and further deepen the understanding of the theme. Urban cemeteries, as a special type of physical morphological element, deeply participate in and even drive the emergence and evolution of urban morphology. Against this background, the study aims to systematically organize and summarize the changing patterns of Milan's cemeteries within its urban morphology. The research findings not only contribute to understanding the generation and evolution process of modern urban cemetery types in Italy and even Europe but also help deepen the historical understanding of the evolution of funeral culture, and provide a mirror for reflecting on China's own funerary concepts, culture, and spatial layout.