This volume contains various studies that range from prehistoric Greek building programmes to building in the Roman period. The economic growth of modern societies
has been closely linked with construction industries: investments, transport
infrastructures for materials and labour-intensive building programmes all have a
large impact on local, regional and even global economies. The end results have
shaped the built environment of our everyday lives and have often led to an
increased quality of life and affluence, though there are many cases that did the
opposite as well. Large-scale building projects in pre-industrial societies required
extensive manual labour to be invested from the moment materials were scouted for, over the extraction, transportation, use and the subsequent maintenance. Since most
ancient societies were based on subsistence economies, important decision-making was
a daily balancing act between building work and agriculture. These decisions often
strongly influenced the patterns of land use and may have also resulted in circular
economic strategies. The papers presented in this volume emphasise the importance of
the socio-economic and political structures and decision-making that resulted in ¿Building Big¿, irrespective of the shape and final size of the projects.