History of
Cities
The first cities
 In
agricultural villages, all inhabitants were
involved in some way in getting food
 Cities were more removed from everyday
agricultural activities
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Food was supplied to the city
Not all city dwellers were involved in actual
farming
Another class of city dwellers supplied
services — such as technical skills, and
religious interpretation
The first cities
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Two elements were crucial to this social
change
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Generation of agricultural surplus was necessary
for supporting nonfarmers
Social system where people had different jobs
Existence of distinct elite and lower classes
 Facilitates the collection, storage, and
distribution of resources
 Well-defined channels of authority that exercise
control over goods and people
 These two set the stage for urbanization

Models for the rise of cities
 Technical

The hydraulic civilization model, developed
by Karl Wittfogel
 Large-scale
irrigation systems were the main
reason urbanization happened
 Higher crop yields resulted
 Food surplus supported development of a
large nonfarming population
 Strong, centralized government, backed by
an urban-based military
 Farmers who resisted new authority were
denied water
Models for the rise of cities
 Technical

The hydraulic model cannot be applied to
all urban hearths
 Urban civilization blossomed without
irrigation in parts of Mesoamerica
 The question of how or why a culture might
first develop irrigation
Models for the rise of cities

Religious
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Paul Wheatley suggests religion was the motivating
factor behind urbanization
Knowledge of meteorological and climatic
conditions was considered to be within the
domain of religion
Religious leaders decided when and how to plant
crops
Successful harvests led to more support for this
priestly class
Priestly class exercised political and social control
that held the city together
In this scenario, cities are religious spaces
functioning as ceremonial centers
First urban clusters and fortification seen as
defenses against spiritual demons or souls of the
dead
Urban hearth areas

Where the first cities appeared, for example:
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Mesopotamia
The Nile Valley
Pakistan’s Indus River Valley
The Yellow River valley (or Huang Ho) in China
Mesoamerica
Next slide gives general dates of urban life
emergence for each region
Urban hearth areas
 Generally
agreed first cities arose in
Mesopotamia
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River valley of the Tigris and Euphrates in
what is now Iraq
Cities, small by current standards, covered
one-half to two square miles
Populations rarely exceeded 30,000
Densities could reach 10,000 per square
mile —comparable to today’s cities
Urban hearth areas

Early cities, also called cosmomagical cities,
exhibited three spatial characteristics

Great importance accorded the symbolic
center of the city, which was thought to be the
center of the known world
Often marked by a vertical structure of
monumental scale representing the point on
Earth closest to the heavens
 This symbolic center took different forms
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The ziggurat in Mesopotamia
The palace or temple in China
The pyramid in Egypt and Mesoamerica
The Stupa in the Indus Valley
Cosmomagical City: Beijing,
China
Urban hearth areas

Early cities, also called cosmomagical cities,
exhibited three spatial characteristics. 2nd
characteristic:

In Mesopotamia, this area was known as the
citadel and housed the elite who lived in
relative luxury
Streets were paved, drains and running water
were provided
 Private sleeping quarters, bathtubs, and water
closets were provided
 Privileges did not extend to the city as a whole

Urban hearth areas

Early cities, also called cosmomagical cities,
exhibited three spatial characteristics

The city was oriented toward the four cardinal
directions
Geometric form of city would reflect the order
of the universe
 Walls around the city delimited the known and
ordered world from the outside chaos
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Attempt to shape the form of the city
according to the form of the universe
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Thought essential to maintain harmony between
human and spiritual worlds
The diffusion of the city from
hearth areas
 Diffusionists
believe ideas and techniques
from Mesopotamia were shared with
people in the Nile and the Indus River
valley
 An alternate view is that trading took
place only after these cities were well
established
The diffusion of the city from
hearth areas
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Little doubt diffusion is responsible for the
dispersal of the city in historical times
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City used as vehicle for imperial expansion
Initially, military controls newly won lands and
sets up collection points for local resources
As collection points lose some military
atmosphere they begin to show the social
diversity of a city
Native people are slowly assimilated into the
settlement as workers and may eventually
control the city
The process repeats itself as the empire pushes
outward
Introduction
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Patterns seen in the city today are a
composite of past and present cultures
Two concepts underlie our examination of
urban landscapes
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Urban morphology — physical form of the city,
which consists of street patterns, building sizes
and shapes, architecture, and density
Functional zonation — refers to the pattern of
land uses within a city, or existence of areas with
differing functions
The Greek city
 Cities
had two distinctive functional zones
—the acropolis and the agora
 The acropolis was similar in many ways to
the citadel of Mesopotamian cities
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Had the temples of worship, storehouse of
valuables, and seat of power
Served as a place of retreat in time of siege
The Greek city
 The
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agora was the province of the citizens
A place for public meetings, education,
social interaction, and judicial matters
Later, after the classical period, it became
the city’s major marketplace without losing
its atmosphere of a social club
Roman cities
 As
the empire expanded, city life diffused
into areas that had not previously
experienced urbanization
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Most cities were established as military
(castra) and trading outposts
 Focal points for collection of local
agricultural products
 Supply centers for the military
 Service centers for long-distance trading
network
Medieval Town:
Hirschhorn am Neckar, Germany
 This
town reveals
three important
features of urban
morphology: castle,
wall, and cathedral.
Hirschhorn castle
caps the summit of a
fortified spur in the
bend of the Neckar
River, affording a
clear view of the river
and forested valley.
The Renaissance and Baroque
periods
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Form and function of the city changed
significantly during the Renaissance (1500 — 1600)
and baroque (1600-1800) periods
Absolute monarchs arose to preside over a unified
nation-state
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Rising middle class slowly gave up their freedoms
to join with the king in pursuit of economic gain
City size grew rapidly because bureaucracies of
regional power structures came to dominate them
Trade patterns expanded with the beginning of
European imperial conquest
City planning and military technology acted to
remold and constrain the physical form of the city
The Renaissance and Baroque
periods
A
national capital city rose to prominence
in most countries
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Provincial cities were subjected to its tastes
Power was centralized in its precincts
First office buildings were built to house a
growing bureaucracy
Most important, it was restructured to
reflect the power of the central
government and insure control over urban
masses