Origins and Growth of Cities: Origins and Growth of Cities Chapter 2
Introduction: Introduction Chapter traces origin of cities 5,500 years ago through the Industrial revolution
5 regions credited with the origin of cities:
Mesopotamia
Egypt
The Indus Valley
Northern China and
Mesoamerica
From here – spread to other areas
Early cities developed independently in regions where the transition to agricultural food production had taken place
Defining a City: Defining a City No single definition for all cities
Some agreed upon definitions:
Wheatley – captures social and political changes surrounding the emergence of cities (see def. on Text pg. 22)
Sjoberg – Definition highlights physical and economic highlights to define a city (ibid)
Childe – Identifies distinctive features - size, structure of pop., public capital, governance, trade
Uses urban civilization to define the city – urbanization and civilization historically linked!
Theories/Explanations why Cities originated: Theories/Explanations why Cities originated 1. Agricultural Surplus
2. Hydrological factors
3. Population pressures
4. trading requirements
5. Defense needs
6. Religious causes
None of all 6 offers sufficient explanation, but a combination of these factors
1. Agricultural Surplus: 1. Agricultural Surplus Roots in archaeology – G. Childe, L. Woolley
Production of more food than was needed, created necessity for centralized structures to administer
New social institutions needed to assign rights over resources
Created greater degree of occupational specialization in non-agricultural activities
Organization needed an urban setting
Critique:
Too simplistic – agr. Surplus not enough to trigger off all these societal changes
Cause-and-effect – not straight forward – which preceded the other surplus or social org.
2. Hydrological factors: 2. Hydrological factors Karl Wittfogel - Early cities emerged in areas of irrigated agri.
Elaborate irrigation practices required new divisions of labor, large scale cooperation, and more cultivation
Led to occupational specialization, then centralized social organization
Hence urban development
Critique: A complex social organization structure not necessary for irrigation
Not all early cities depended on massive irrigation
3. Population Pressures: 3. Population Pressures Esther Boserup – Attributes cities to increasing population densities and growing scarcity of wild food
=transition to agricultural production, and urban life
Critique:
Relationship unclear: Did food production and urban life cause or were a result of increased population densities?
4. Trading Requirements: 4. Trading Requirements Emergence of cities – a function of long-distance trade
Need for a system to administer large-scale exchange of goods – promoted development of centralized structures
Increasing occupational specialization would encourage urban development
Theory supported by the many urban centers around marketplaces
Critique:
Again, cause-and-effect issue: between trade and urban development!
5. Defense needs: 5. Defense needs Max Weber and others
Cities a function of need for people to gather together for protection
Cities located on strategic places (hills) where could spot enemy at distance
Wittfogel – argued that valuable irrigation systems need protection from attack
Evidence: Most cities had walls (fortified)
Critique:
Not all early cities had defenses
6. Religious Causes: 6. Religious Causes Sjoberg and others
Control of Alter offerings by the religious elite – gave them economic and political power
Power was used to influence social organization – initiated urban dev.
Critique:
Can the origin of cities be attributed solely to any one of the above 6 factors? : Can the origin of cities be attributed solely to any one of the above 6 factors? Capital NO!
Wheatley: No single autonomous causative factor has been (or will be) identified.
None of all 6 offers sufficient explanation, but a combination of these factors
Has seen a gradual transformation involving caused incremental change over time rather than an abrupt urban evolution
URBAN ORIGINS: REGIONS : URBAN ORIGINS: REGIONS 5 Regions credited with the earliest development of cities:
Mesopotamia, Egypt, The Indus Valley, Northern China, and Mesoamerica
1. Mesopotamia
Urban Origins: Urban Origins 1. Mesopotamia – Land between the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates – area of modern day Iraq!
Earliest evidence for urbanization – approx. 3500BC
The Fertile Crescent
City States 2. Egypt - Along Nile valley
Around 3100 BC
Agriculture - Irrigation
Short lifespan for cities
Cities usually abandoned after the death of a Pharaoh – leader
2000-1400BC – founding of Capital Cities – Thebes, Tanis, etc
Cont.: Cont. 3. Indus Valley – 2500BC
Modern day Pakistan
Agriculture and trade
4. Northern China – Along the fertile plains of R. Huang He – 1800BC
Supported by irrigated agriculture
5. Mesoamerica – 500BC
Based on agriculture
Mayan civilization
Modern day Mexico
Slide15: REGIONS OF URBAN ORIGIN
Internal Structure of Early Cities: Internal Structure of Early Cities Internal Structure=Lay out within the city – land use, streets, transportation, etc
Two ways to examine internal lay out:
1. Organic growth –cities that evolved in an unplanned process
Eg. Mesopotamia
2. Planned – cities that were laid out in a predetermined way based on some planned approach, eg – gridiron street pattern, eg London
Planned lay out of streets could signify the presence of central control
Internal structure – never static – evolves – some cities – changed from organic to planned and vice versa eg. London - planned to organic
Slide17: INTERNAL STRUCTURE (ORGANIC) OF
UR, MESOPOTAMIA – Fig. 2.3
Slide18: PLANNED CITY GROWTH OF MOHENJO-DARO, INDUS VALLEY (see gridiron plan)– Fig. 2.4
INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF EARLY CITIES IN MESOPOTAMIA: INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF EARLY CITIES IN MESOPOTAMIA Were City states – means were political entities on their own with a sovereign govt
Featured an organic growth process
Prominent features (eg. Ur, Mesopotamia):
1. Walled City, appr. 35,000 people
2. Religious and administrative core area – reserved for priests and royal household
3. Outer city or suburbs – remainder of the city state – houses, farms (200,000 people
URBAN EXPANSION FROM THE REGIONS OF ORIGIN: URBAN EXPANSION FROM THE REGIONS OF ORIGIN Spread of urbanization from areas of origin-involved uneven development
Some urbanized civilizations became rural in the process, were later revived, and recolonized
Spread associated with long-distance trade
Ex. the silk road – an ancient trade network that extended across central Asia
Produced an extensive system of cities
Slide21: URBAN EXPANSION FROM THE REGIONS OF ORIGIN
Slide22: THE SILK ROAD: LONG DISTANCE TRADE
AND URBAN EXPANSION – Fig. 2.6
EUROPEAN URBAN EXPANSION: EUROPEAN URBAN EXPANSION THE GREEKS – idea of cities introduced from the Fertile Crescent
Evolved as City states - ex. Sparta, Athens
Served 4 functions: religious, commerce, administrative, and defense
Street systems – gridiron pattern
Mainly along coastlines – reflecting the importance of long distance sea trade
Pressure on farmland –etc – drove overseas colonization – developed cities elsewhere as far as Spain
Democratic government – elections, etc
Slide24: GENERAL PLAN OF A TYPICAL
GREEK CITY STATE – Fig. 2.7
Slide25: GREEK CITY STATES IN THE MEDITERRANEAN
(Note cities Located along coastlines) – Fig. 2.8
ROMAN CITIES: ROMAN CITIES Greeks loose independence – 338BC
Greek civilization displaced by the expanding Roman empire
By AD 200 – Romans had established towns in Southern Europe
Laid foundation for Western European urban system
Cities connected to one another and to Rome by a system or roads
Health improvements
Cities also fortresses – built around military grounds
Slide27: CITIES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AD 200 – Fig. 2.9
(A well integrated urban system and transportation network)
Slide28: GENERAL PLAN OF A TYPICAL ROMAN CITY – Fig. 2.10
THE DARK AGES and the URBAN REVIVAL : THE DARK AGES and the URBAN REVIVAL Rome falls in the 5th C –
Dark ages a period of stagnation – saw a decline in city life
Meanwhile, cities thrived elsewhere – Arab world – Mecca, Medina, Baghdad, etc
Transition from feudalism – saw increased trade
Medieval period - 11th C – a revival of cities around trade
14th and 18th C – Renaissance – (protestant reformation and scientific revolution – saw significant change in social, pol., and economic organization
Urban Expansion and Consolidation During the Renaissance and Baroque Periods : Urban Expansion and Consolidation During the Renaissance and Baroque Periods 14th-18th C – aggressive European colonization
Need to connect colonies to European urban and economic systems
Spanish and Portuguese started with colonial cities – Latin America
Mainly Administrative and military centers
Extension of trading networks worldwide – required establishment of gateway cities
Gateway cities established as links and control centers eg. North America
Urbanization and the Industrial Revolution : Urbanization and the Industrial Revolution Industrialization began in England
Industrialization and cities grew hand-in-hand.
Cities as production centers
Manchester UK – shock city of European industrialization in the 19th C
15,000 (1750); 70,000 (1801); ½ a million (1961); and 2.3 million (1911).
Industrial City; also a World city
Industrialization and urbanization spread to other parts of Europe
Review: Review Origin of cities – theories
Earliest cities and their internal structure
The spread of urbanization
Greek cities
Roman cities
European cities and spread
American cities
Rest of the World