Transcript Chapter 2 - Paradigm Publishers

The Urban World,
J. John Palen
th
9
Ed.
Chapter 2: The Emergence of Cities
• Outline:
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Introduction
The Ecological Complex
Political Economy Models
First Settlements
Interactions of Population, Organization, Environment, and Technology
City Populations
Evolution in Social Organization
Technological and Social Evolution
Urban Revolution
Survival of the City
The Hellenic City
Rome
European Urbanization until the Industrial City
Industrial Cities
Summary
Introduction
• The need to develop some understanding of
the process of urban development—that is,
how and why cities developed
The Ecological Complex
• use of an ecosystem framework to explain broad
urban change. A model, not a theory.
• Ecosystem: a natural unit in which there is an
interaction of an environment and a biotic
system—that is, a community together with its
habitat
• The ecological complex identifies the relationship
between four causally interdependent concepts
or classes of variables: population, organization,
environment, and technology
• Population: refers not only to the number of
people but also to growth or contraction through
either migration or natural increase
• Organization (social structure): the way urban
populations are organized according to social
stratification, the political system, and the
economic system
• Environment: the natural environment and the
built environment of streets, parks, and buildings
• Technology: tools, inventions, ideas, and
techniques that directly impact urban growth and
form
Political Economy Models
• Conflict-based paradigms or models
• Many models, but all stress that urban growth
is largely a consequence of capitalist economic
systems of capital accumulation, conflict
between classes, and economic exploitation of
the powerless by the rich and powerful.
First Settlements
• Agricultural Revolution
– Hunting-and-Gathering Societies: ranging from 25
to 50 persons
– Settled Agriculture: shift from a specialized foodcollecting culture to a culture where grains were
cultivated occurred in the Middle East around
8000 B.C.E.
– First true cities are generally thought to have
begun in the “Fertile Crescent” of Mesopotamia
around 4000 B.C.E.
• Population Expansion
– Initially supported by slash-and-burn agriculture
• Mesoamerica
– Physically isolated from the Middle East and Asia
– The Mayans has a major civilization and large cities
dating from roughly 500 B.C.E.
– Between 800 and 900, most of the great cities of
Central America were abandoned, for reasons that are
still debated and unclear
– By the time the Spanish invaders arrived in 1521, both
Mayan society and its cities had collapsed
Interactions of Population,
Organization, Environment, and
Technology
• Clearer in their consequences than in their
timing
• Increased population = increased pressure for
developments
• Permanent settlements changed the structure
of the family
• Location defined the technology needed
City Populations
• Little more than small towns at the beginning
• Probably represented no more than 3 or 4
percent of all the people within the various
localities
• The size of the cities was limited by how much
surplus could be produced and what
technology was available to transport it
Evolution in Social Organization
• Early cities encouraged innovations in social
organization
• Division of Labor
– Hierarchy and stratification
– Specialized priests probably the first to be released
from direct subsistence functions
• Kingship and Social Class
– Warrior-leaders, primarily used for external threat,
began to stay in power during times of peace
– Shift of central focus from temple to palace
Figure 2.1
Location of Early Urban Settlements
Technological and Social Evolution
• Technology spurred by necessity
– i.e. water collection and distribution, weapons,
chariots, and other luxuries
• The first city was a clear break form the past, a
whole new social system.
Urban Revolution
• V. Gordon Childe’s list of 10 features that
define the “urban revolution”
– Permanent settlement in dense aggregations
– Non-agriculturalists engaging in specialized
functions
– Taxation and capital accumulation
– Monumental public buildings
– A ruling class
– The technique of writing
– The acquisition of predictive sciences—arithmetic,
geometry, and astronomy
– Artistic expression
– Trade for vital materials
– The replacement of kinship by residence as the basis
for membership in the community
• Most useful in indicating what we have come to
accept as the general characteristics of cities
Survival of the City
• Stable location must be able to resist siege
• Also threat of fire and disease
The Hellenic City
• Social Invention
– The Greek development of social organization
– Polis: city-state
– Phratries: groups of clans
• Physical Design and Planning
– Greek cities all had a similar design
– Acropolis: a fortified hill
– Agora: an open space
• Population
– Athens had 250,000 people at its peak
– Ancient Greeks preferred smaller cities because of the correlating
smaller government
• Diffusion of People and Ideas
– Creation of colonies kept population under control
Rome
• Size and Number of Cities
– The Romans had several cities of more than 200,000 inhabitants
– Rome controlled over a third of the world’s population
• Housing and Planning
– Municipal planning was limited in scope
– Extensive system of aqueducts
• Transportation
– Road and sea trade for import and export
• Life and Leisure
– Those who did work rarely worked over 6 hours
– The ratio of workdays to holidays was one to one
– Creation of entertainment to deter uprisings
European Urbanization until the
Industrial City
• The Medieval Feudal System
– Serfdom: the virtual slavery of the peasants
– A rural economic system
– The few cities that survived were ruled by Catholic bishops
• Town Revival
– Cities began to revive in the 11th century
– Trade repopulated cities
– Two external factors contributed to the growth of towns in
Europe
• The Crusaders
• The overall population growth
• Characteristics of Towns
– Typically had small populations of 10,000-30,000
– Bourgeoisie: a new social class of artisans,
weavers, innkeepers, money changers, and metal
smiths. In many ways the antithesis of feudal
nobility.
• Plague
– From 1348-1350, the plague wiped out at least
one-fourth of the population of Europe
– Overall, 35 million Europeans died
– The feudal social structure never really recovered
• Renaissance Cities
– Influences of Technology
• Gunpowder and cannons changed the nature of the walled
city
• Cities began to expand vertically
– Demographic Transition
• Demographic Transition (demographic revolution): refers to
the transition from a time of high birthrates matched by
almost equally high death rates, through a period of
declining death rates, to a period where birthrates also begin
to decline, and eventually to a period where population
stability is reestablished—this time through low birthrates
matched by equally low death rates
– Changes in Agriculture
• Jethro Tull’s published research on agriculture increased
usability of acreage
• Selective breeding became popular
Industrial Cities
• Technological Improvements and the
Industrial Revolution
– The First Urban Revolution
• The emergence of cities
– The Second Urban Revolution
• The 18th-century changes that for the first time made it
possible for more than 10 percent of the population to
live in urban spaces
Figure 2.2
World Population Growth