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City: the story on HearLore | HearLore
City
The Mesopotamian city of Uruk, located in what is now ancient Iraq, stands as the first true city in human history, emerging in the mid-fourth millennium BC. Before Uruk, settlements like Jericho and Çatalhöyük existed, but they lacked the complex social stratification, administrative systems, and dense population that define a city. Uruk was not merely a large village; it was a revolutionary hub where the concept of civilization took root. It featured a temple complex that rose 40 feet above the ground, serving as the center for the priestly class, scribes, and record keepers. This temple contained granaries, schools, and workshops, effectively housing almost all non-agricultural aspects of society. The existence of Uruk marked a turning point where humanity shifted from subsistence living to a system of extraction and redistribution, with a central authority managing the flow of grain from the countryside to the urban population. This innovation allowed for a social division of labor, creating a stratified society where some individuals could focus on trade, politics, or religion rather than farming. The name Uruk is so significant that the entire period of its dominance is known as the Uruk period, setting a precedent for all future urban development.
Walls And Water
Access to water has long been the primary factor determining where cities are built, a rule that held true from the earliest river valley civilizations to the modern era. The ancient cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in the Indus Valley Civilization, dating back to about 2600 BC, were constructed on a sophisticated grid pattern aligned with compass points and featured advanced sanitation systems that would not be seen again for millennia. These cities were not isolated islands; they were deeply connected to the hinterlands that sustained them, relying on the countryside for food while providing administrative and economic services in return. In the ancient Americas, the Norte Chico civilization in Peru flourished between the 30th and 18th centuries BC, developing as many as 30 major population centers that relied on fishing and irrigation rather than agriculture. The physical form of a city is often dictated by its environment, with cities on mountainsides relying on terraces and winding roads, while those in flat regions might adopt radial or rectilinear patterns. The Dutch cities of Amsterdam and Haarlem exemplify the radial structure, with concentric canals marking every expansion, a design still visible in Moscow today. Even when rail transport in the nineteenth century allowed cities to be built far from water sources, the majority of the world's urban population continues to live near the coast or on a river, proving that the ancient relationship between water and settlement remains a fundamental geographic truth.
Common questions
When did the Mesopotamian city of Uruk emerge as the first true city in human history?
The Mesopotamian city of Uruk emerged in the mid-fourth millennium BC. It stands as the first true city in human history, featuring a temple complex that rose 40 feet above the ground and housing almost all non-agricultural aspects of society.
What ancient cities in the Indus Valley Civilization were constructed on a sophisticated grid pattern around 2600 BC?
The ancient cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa in the Indus Valley Civilization were constructed on a sophisticated grid pattern aligned with compass points. These cities featured advanced sanitation systems that would not be seen again for millennia.
Which city was the largest and wealthiest in Europe from the ninth through the twelfth century?
Constantinople emerged as the largest and wealthiest city in Europe from the ninth through the twelfth century. It boasted a population approaching one million while Western Europe experienced a profound crisis of deurbanization.
How did the population living in cities in England change between 1801 and 1891?
The proportion of the population living in cities in England jumped from 17% in 1801 to 72% in 1891. This shift marked a fundamental restructuring of society where the city became the great growth engine of national economies.
How many megacities existed by 2010 and how many are estimated to exist by 2025?
By 2010, there were 55 megacities, and by 2025, there are estimated to be 87. A megacity is defined as a city with more than 8 million people, with 90% of urban population expansion occurring in Asia and Africa.
What legal principle allows governments to divest citizens of property for urban planning projects?
The legal principle of eminent domain allows governments to divest citizens of property for projects. This principle is used alongside zoning controls to justify measures through considerations of public health, safety, and community welfare.
During the Middle Ages, the center of urban power shifted dramatically from the crumbling West to the thriving East, with Constantinople emerging as the largest and wealthiest city in Europe from the ninth through the twelfth century, boasting a population approaching one million. While Western Europe experienced a profound crisis of deurbanization, with cities diminishing in size and number, the Islamic civilization saw the rise of massive urban centers like Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba, each with populations of about 500,000, and Baghdad itself exceeding one million. In the Holy Roman Empire, free imperial cities such as Nuremberg, Strasbourg, and Frankfurt gained self-governance, becoming a privileged elite that governed the empire alongside the emperor. The medieval period also saw the rise of the Hanseatic League, a collective defense and commerce organization formed by cities like Lübeck and Bruges, which later challenged the Dutch commercial cities of Ghent and Amsterdam. In the East, the Khmer capital of Angkor in Cambodia grew into the most extensive preindustrial settlement in the world by area, covering over 1,000 square kilometers and possibly supporting up to one million people. This era demonstrated that cities could be engines of culture and power, with the Tang and Song dynasties in China ruling over impressive cities like Xian and Hangzhou that stood as the most impressive on the planet during their time.
The Industrial Shift
The growth of modern industry from the late 18th century onward triggered a massive urbanization that transformed the global landscape, with England leading the way as London became the first truly global city. As the Industrial Revolution took hold, cities across Europe and the United States grew in locations strategic for manufacturing, drawing huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. In the United States, the introduction of railroads between 1860 and 1910 reduced transportation costs, fueling the emergence of large manufacturing centers and the migration of people from the countryside to the city. However, this rapid growth brought severe health challenges, including overcrowding, contaminated water and air, poor sanitation, and communicable diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Factories and slums became regular features of the urban landscape, creating a stark contrast between the wealth of the industrialists and the poverty of the working class. The proportion of the population living in cities in England jumped from 17% in 1801 to 72% in 1891, a shift that would eventually see more than half of the world's population living in cities by 2014. This era of urbanization was not just about population growth; it was about the fundamental restructuring of society, where the city became the great growth engine of national economies and the primary site of social change.
The Rust And The Rise
In the second half of the 20th century, the phenomenon of deindustrialization led to poverty, homelessness, and urban decay in formerly prosperous cities, transforming America's Steel Belt into the Rust Belt. Cities such as Detroit, Michigan, and Gary, Indiana began to shrink, contrary to the global trend of massive urban expansion, as manufacturing employment shifted to other regions or countries. Yet, the narrative of decline was not absolute; manufacturing employment in the United States actually increased from 16.8 million in 1960 to 20.3 million in 1980, even as it represented a decreasing proportion of the labor force. Cities that lost their industries shifted with varying success into the service economy and public-private partnerships, leading to gentrification and uneven revitalization efforts. In contrast, China has undergone concomitant urbanization and industrialization, becoming the world's leading manufacturer and moving 250 million people into cities under the Great Leap Forward and subsequent five-year plans. The rise of megacities, defined as cities with more than 8 million people, has proliferated into the dozens, arising especially in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. By 2010, there were 55 megacities, and by 2025, there are estimated to be 87, with 90% of urban population expansion occurring in Asia and Africa. This rapid growth has created a deep gulf between the super-wealthy elite living in gated communities and the masses living in substandard housing with inadequate infrastructure.
The Grid And The Plan
Urban planning, the application of forethought to city design, has been a defining feature of human civilization since the earliest known cities, with the Indus Valley and Mesoamerican civilizations building their cities on grids and zoning different areas for different purposes. The physical environment constrains the form in which a city is built, but human ingenuity has often imposed order upon chaos, as seen in the grid plan used for millennia in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The ancient Greek city of Priene exemplifies a grid plan with specialized districts, while the Indus Valley cities of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa used ancient principles described by Kautilya to align their streets with compass points. In the modern era, the L'Enfant Plan for Washington, D.C., combined a utilitarian grid pattern with diagonal avenues and a symbolic focus on monumental architecture, while La Plata in Argentina was designed in the 1880s as a perfect square with 5196-meter sides. Planning is a highly political activity, involving tradeoffs where some stand to gain and others to lose, and it is closely connected to the prevailing political situation. The legal principle of eminent domain allows governments to divest citizens of their property for projects, while zoning controls the use of land and structures, justifying these measures through considerations of public health, safety, and community welfare. The history of urban planning dates back to the earliest cities, and its effects are ubiquitous in today's world, from the layout of planned communities to the regulation of building and housing.
The City As State
Cities have played a crucial strategic role in warfare due to their economic, demographic, symbolic, and political centrality, often serving as targets in asymmetric warfare and foundations for military strategies. Many cities throughout history were founded under military auspices, and a great many have incorporated fortifications, with military principles continuing to influence urban design down to the eighteenth century. Powers engaged in geopolitical conflict have established fortified settlements as part of military strategies, such as garrison towns, America's Strategic Hamlet Program during the Vietnam War, and Israeli settlements in Palestine. The ancient city of Uruk, with its temple and granaries, was a center of power that allowed for the concentration of social leadership and political power in the hands of a weapons-bearing minority. In the modern era, cities have become the locus of civilization, human history, and social change, with the density of cities expediting commerce and facilitating knowledge spillovers. The global urban proletariat of today, however, generally lacks the status of factory workers which in the nineteenth century provided access to the means of production, leading to a growing stratum of society known as the proletariat. Cities are hubs for education and the arts, supporting universities, museums, temples, and other cultural institutions, and they feature impressive displays of architecture ranging from small to enormous and ornate to brutal. The density of cities makes for effective mass communication and transmission of news, through heralds, printed proclamations, newspapers, and digital media, penetrating extensively into all populated areas.