Origins and Growth of Cities

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Origins and Growth of Cities

• Geography 120

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Outline

• Pre-industrial cities
• Medieval Urbanization
• Industrial Urbanization
• Origins of Urban USA
• Westward Expansion
• Post-modern/Post-Industrial Cities

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Pre-industrial cities

• Urban transformation processes
• Agricultural revolution
• Division of labor
• Large-scale social organization
• Trading networks, specialization
• Warfare
• Religion

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Location of earliest cities

• Mesopotamia3500 BC (Iraq)
• Egypt3500 BC
• Indus Valley2500 BC (Pakistan)
• Yellow River1800 BC (China)
• Mediterranean800 BC (Greece, S. Italy, Sicily)
• Mesoamerica200 BC (Mexico, Guatemala)

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City of Ur, Ancient Mesopotamia
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Source http//www.mayaruins.com
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Tikal
Source http//www.mayaruins.com
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Tikal
Source http//www.mayaruins.com
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Tikal
Source http//www.mayaruins.com
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Chichen Itza, Great Ball Court
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Medieval Urbanization

• Commercial revival
• Trade/Merchants central
• Military fortifications

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Industrial Urbanization

• Industrial revolution

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Industrial Urbanization

• Industrial revolution
• Factory systemeconomies of scale, productivity,
  high output.
• Need for large labor pool, ancillary services,
  markets.
• Urban form shaped by factory systems and class
  structure
• Segregated housing highly distinctive

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Origins of Urban USA

• Urbanization related to colonization by Spanish,
  French and especially English settlers
• Earliest settlements (Spanish) were military
  outposts, trading bases, and religious centers
  (FL, TX, CA)
• English colonization from 1585 (Roanoke Island)
  and 1607 (Jamestown)
• In 1800, only 4 of U.S. population west of
  Allegheny Mountains.

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Westward Expansion

• Transport was critical
• Sailing vessels and horse-drawn wagon (to 1830)

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Source Wilkie, R and Tager, J., 1991.
Historical Atlas of Massachusetts (Amherst,
Umass Press) (http//www.geo.umass.edu/faculty/wil
kie/Wilkie/maps.html)
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Westward Expansion

• Transport was critical
• Sailing vessels and horse-drawn wagon (to 1830)
• Steam and rail (1830-1870)

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Source William Cronin, 1991. Natures
Metropolis Chicago and the Great West (New
York W.W. Norten Company), p. 77.
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Source William Cronin, 1991. Natures
Metropolis Chicago and the Great West (New
York W.W. Norten Company), inside cover.
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Westward Expansion

• Transport was critical
• Sailing vessels and horse-drawn wagon (to 1830)
• Steam and rail (1830-1870)
• Steel era (1870-1920)
• Automobile and Air Travel (1920-1970)

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Source http//www.usc.edu/isd/archives/la/histor
ic/redcars/ (USC Library Los Angeles Past,
Present, Future project
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Photo courtesy of Automobile Club of Southern
California, http//www.nottingham.ac.uk/3cities/la
rge/0214.HTM
Los Angeles Traffic, 1930s
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Post-Industrial/Post-Modern City

• Restructuring economic base
• Global system of world cities
• Restructuring of urban form
• Changing social structure
• Carceral cities
• Urban imagery (Los Angeles proto-type)

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Mutli-Ethnic Los Angeles. Mike Davis. 1990. City
of Quartz (Verso Press, New York) p. 85
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Bunker Hill. Mike Davis. 1990. City of Quartz
(Verso Press, New York) p. 225
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Bum-Proof Bus Bench Mike Davis. 1990. City of
Quartz (Verso Press, New York) p. 235
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Goldwyn Library, Hollywood Mike Davis. 1990.
City of Quartz (Verso Press, New York) p. p. 241
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Police observatory above library in Haagen
shopping mall, Willowbrook District Mike Davis.
1990. City of Quartz (Verso Press, New York) p.
p.244
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Take Home Messages

• Cities have long history
• Processes of urbanization have changed over time
• Character and physical structure of cities is
  heavily influenced by period of first
  urbanization