Urban Geography Chapter 9 Not until 8,000 years ago did humans begin to live in cities Chapter 9

City – a conglomeration of people and buildings clustered together to serve as a center of politics, culture, and economics. Urban-The buildup of the central city and the suburban realm – the city and the surrounding environs connected to the city.

20th Century-the Urban Century 1900 only 13 cities had 1 million people 1999 about 362 cities had 1 million By 2025 there will be 650 cities of 1 million or more Sometime in 21st cent. The world will become mostly urban Western Europe, US & Canada are 4/5 urban China and India are only 3/10 urban Top Amsterdam Bottom-hillside slum in South America Calcutta and Mumbai, India are growing at a very rapid pace Costal China has phenomenal growth as well-Shenzen, China grew from 20,000 (size of Homewood) to 2.5 million (size of Chicago) in 30 years.

Urban Definitions Urban-a general term for towns, cities and suburban areas City-nucleated settlement with many functions and a central business district Town-small than a city-less complex Suburb-subsidiary area that is exclusively residential, commercial or industrial-not self sufficient.

Urban Morphology The layout of a city, its physical form and structure. Berlin, Germany With wall (above) And without wall (right)

Ancient Cities Between 7,000 & 5,000 b.p. agricultural societies became more complex with irrigation & larger scale farming Stratified societies developed with priests, merchants, administrators, soldiers and farmers Central authority or the state developed which led to the rise of ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Greece & the Roman Empire. Picture at upper right-the Euphrates River where urban civilization began Lower right-Iranian farmers winnowing grain-same method is ancient times. Before urbanization, people often clustered in agricultural villages – a relatively small, egalitarian village, where most of the population was involved in agriculture. About 10,000 years ago, people began living in agricultural villages

Urban Definitions Central City-main city around which suburbs have grown Urbanized area-continuously built up area with buildings & population density with no reference to political boundaries Metropolitan area-a large scale functional entity containing several urbanized areas that are integrated as an economic whole Picture at right-a roof garden-city hall Chicago-reduces air conditioning costs

Attributes of Cities Centers of political power Centers of industrial power Centers of technology A market place for goods Specialization in products and services Services of all types Medical advances Cultural and Artistic pursuits Centers of education and research Entertainment of all types Sports teams, arenas and parks An anchor of society

Five Hearths of Urbanization Mesopotamia, 3500 BCE Nile River Valley, 3200 BCE Indus River Valley, 2200 BCE Huang He and Wei River Valleys, 1500 BCE Mesoamerica, 200 BCE

Five Hearths of Urbanization In each of these hearths, an agricultural surplus and social stratification created the conditions necessary for cities to form and be maintained.

Function & Location Earliest civilizations probably developed with the need for organization to create irrigation and provide enough food Availability of water, good farmland and defensible sites helped certain towns thrive Positions on travel & trade routes created urban growth. Urban elites or decision makers evolved. Writing made the codification of laws and record keeping possible. Urban elite required to organize the distribution of food, organize defense and irrigation. The harvest was stored as a tax and tribute Out of this need for an organized society came record keeping and writing Laws ere codified or written down and traditions were preserved in writing.

The River Valley civilizations or Hydrologic Societies as Marvin Harris called them, developed governments, mathematics, engineering to irrigate and control the rive and architecture.

Maya and Aztec America The Maya civilization thrived from 200 to 800 AD- with 2 million people in the Yucatan The Aztec civilization thrived from 1200 to 1500 AD Olmec were the first to emerge in Central America

God-kings or theocratic rulers developed in some ancient cities. Theocratic Centers God-kings or theocratic rulers developed in some ancient cities. Priests, temples and shrines took center stage in the Yucatan, Guatemala and Honduras when the Maya Indians developed the great cities of Tikal, Chichen-Itza, Uxmal and Copan. They also served as educational centers with teachers and philosophers Ancient Americas rain god Tlaloc (main god of Teotihuacan) on the top on an ornate incense burner from Teotihuacan

Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were two of the first cities of the Indus River Valley. - intricately planned - houses equal in size - no palaces - no monuments Indus River Valley Archaeologists have found that the houses in Indus River cities, such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, were a uniform size: each house had access to a sewer system, and palaces were absent from the cultural landscape.

Ancient Mesopotamia and Nile River Valleys had between 10,000 and 15,000 people-the maximum size sustained by food production and distribution systems of the period.

Athens was the largest city in the world with 250,000. Diffusion to Greece Knossos emerged as the leading city of the Minoan Civilization about 3,500 yrs. ago. Greece emerged as one of the most highly urbanized areas on earth with over 500 cities and towns by 500 BC Athens was the largest city in the world with 250,000.

Each Greek city had an acropolis (high city) for defense. The most famous is the acropolis of Athens (447BC) Below the acropolis was the agora or market place Theaters, shops and stores of all kinds were available. Despite the modern features-sanitation was still primitive Frieze of the Parthenon in Athens

Athens, Greece below-the agora above the acropolis

Athens-the Parthenon begun 447BC