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The Development of Cities 455

In this second part of the chapter, I will try to lay the context for understanding
Summarize the
urban life—and El Tiro. Let’s begin by first finding out how the city itself came about. 14.3
development of cities, the process
of urbanization, U.S. urban
patterns, and the rural rebound.
The Development of Cities
FIGURE 14.10 A Global
Cities are not new to the world scene. Perhaps as early as 7,000 years ago, people built Boom: Cities with over
small cities with massive defensive walls, such as biblically famous Jericho (Homblin
1973). Cities on a larger scale appeared about 3500 B.C., around the time that writing One Million Residents
was invented (Chandler and Fox 1974; Hawley 1981). The earliest cities emerged in 700
several parts of the world—in Asia (China, India, Iran, and Iraq), West Africa (Egypt),
Europe, and Central and South America (Fischer 1976; Palen 2012). 636
About 6,500 years ago, Bulgaria was home to the oldest town in Europe (Toshkov 600
2012). Its massive walls were 10 feet high and 6 feet thick. Its 350 residents made their
living producing salt for trade. Another city that goes back 5,500 years was discovered 500
in 2010 in Norway (Goll 2010). The city had been buried under sand. In the Americas,
the first city was Caral, in what is now Peru (Fountain 2001). It was also discovered 414
recently, covered by jungle growth. 400
The key to the origin of cities is the development of more efficient agriculture
(Lenski and Lenski 1987). Only when farming produces a surplus can some people 300
stop producing food and gather in cities to spend time in other economic pursuits.
A city, in fact, can be defined as a place in which a large number of people are per- 200
manently based and do not produce their own food. The invention of the plow about
5,000 years ago created widespread agricultural surpluses, stimulating the development
of towns and cities. 100
Most early cities were small, merely a collection of a few thousand people in agricul- 16
tural centers or on major trade routes. The most notable exceptions are two cities that 0 1
reached 1 million residents for a brief period of time before they declined—Changan 1800 1900 2000 2025
(Xi’an) in China about A.D. 800 and Baghdad in Persia (Iraq) about A.D. 900 (Chandler Year
and Fox 1974). Even Athens at the height of its power in the fifth century B.C. had only Sources: By the author. Based on Chandler and
Fox 1974; Brockerhoff 2000; United Nations
about 250,000 inhabitants. Rome, at its peak, may have had a million people or more, 2008. World Population Prospects 2012.
but as the Roman Empire declined, the city of Rome became only a collection of villages
(Palen 2012). urbanization the process by
Two hundred years ago, the only city in the world that had a population of more which an increasing proportion of a
than a million was Peking (Beijing), China (Chandler and Fox 1974). But today, as population lives in cities and has a
growing influence on the culture
you can see from Figure 14.10, the world has about 500 cities with more than a
million residents. Behind this urban surge lies the Industrial Revolution, which FIGURE 14.11 How the
not only drew people to cities by providing work but also stimulated rapid trans-
portation and communication. These, in turn, allowed the efficient movement of World Is Urbanizing
people, resources, products, and, especially today, information—essential factors
(called infrastructure) that allow large cities to exist. 90
80
The Process of Urbanization
70
Although cities are not new to the world scene, quite recent in world history
is urbanization—the movement of masses of people to cities, which then have 60 Most Industrialized
a growing influence on society. In 1800, only 3 percent of the world’s popula- 50 Nations
tion lived in cities (Hauser and Schnore 1965). The watershed year was 2008, Percent Urban 40
when for the first time in history, more people lived in cities than in rural areas.
From Figure 14.11, you can see how urbanization has accelerated—and how 30 Industrializing Nations
uneven it is. Note especially the rapid increase of urbanization in the Least 20
Industrialized Nations. Least Industrialized
To understand the city’s attraction, we need to consider the “pulls” of urban 10 Nations
life. Because of its exquisite division of labor, the city offers incredible variety— 0
music ranging from rap and salsa to death metal and classical, shops that feature 1950 1975 2000 2025 2050
imported delicacies from around the world and those that sell special foods for Source: By the author. Based on United Nations 2010