Held in Castelo de Vide (Portugal) between 4 and 6 May 2023 the colloquium A Networked urban world: small, medium, and large cities (from de Middle Ages to Contemporary Times). Its organization is the result of a joint initiative by the Network of Small Cities in Time, the Municipality of Castelo de Vide, three research units of NOVA FCSH (Institute of Medieval Studies, Humanities Center and Institute of Contemporary History), Casa de Velázquez (Madrid), the Research Group HISEURAM 970758 (Univ. Complutense de Madrid) and the Frontown project (PTDC/HAR-HIS/3024/2020).

The interest of urban historiography on small towns has manifested itself, in a continuous, but not intense, way since the eighties of the last century, namely through the study of urban hierarchies, the spatial distribution of towns in a region, or city/city relations. field. So far, however, the topic of relations established between small, medium and large cities, although not omitted, is far from being considered consolidated as a research topic. Mainly, little was questioned about the place that small towns occupy/occupied in large-scale interconnection phenomena and what are the components, modalities, intensity and relevance of their (possible) involvement.