# History of cities

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Towns and [cities](/source/City) have a long history, although opinions vary on which [ancient](/source/Ancient_history) settlements are truly cities. Historically, the benefits of dense, permanent settlement were numerous, but required prohibitive amounts of food and labor to maintain. Ancient cities allowed for the pooling of resources, exchange of ideas, large marketplaces, and even some shared amenities such as [drinking water](/source/Tap_water), [sewerage](/source/Sewerage), law enforcement, and roads. The first cities formed and grew once these benefits of proximity between people exceeded the cost of work required to maintain a settlement.[1] Various technologies such as bricks, [pottery](/source/Pottery), and animal taming played a large role in the costs and benefits of maintaining the earliest forms of cities. Cities were first made possible by advances in technology.

## Origins

See also: [Proto-city](/source/Proto-city)

There is not enough [evidence](/source/Evidence) to assert with certainty what conditions gave rise to the first cities. Smaller human settlements (such as [villages](/source/Village)) pre-date cities by many thousands of years. Before permanent settlement in cities, there were also large temporary settlements used for religious purposes or as a stopping place for nomadic people.

Anthropologists speculate on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces in the shift to permanent settlement. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the [Neolithic Revolution](/source/Neolithic_Revolution), and the introduction of agriculture. The ability to produce food from a fixed location made permanent settlements much more attractive to ancient people.[2] However, whether farming immigrants replaced foragers or foragers began farming is not clear. The increased food production per unit of land supported higher population density and more city-like activities in areas suitable for agriculture. In the book, *Cities and Economic Development*, [Paul Bairoch](/source/Paul_Bairoch) takes up this position in his argument that agriculture and a surplus of food is necessary before cities can form.[3]

According to [V. Gordon Childe](/source/V._Gordon_Childe), for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population.[4] Bairoch points out that, due to sparse population densities that would have persisted in pre-Neolithic, hunter-gatherer societies, the amount of land that would be required to produce enough food for subsistence and trade for a large population would make it impossible to control the flow of trade. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example: "Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, [where] the density must have been less than 0.1 person per square kilometre".[5] Using this population density as a base for calculation, and allotting 10% of food towards surplus for trade and assuming that city dwellers do no farming, he calculates that "...to maintain a city with a population of 1,000, and without taking the cost of transport into account, an area of 100,000 square kilometres would have been required. When the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres ...".[5] Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of [Great Britain](/source/Great_Britain). The urban theorist [Jane Jacobs](/source/Jane_Jacobs) suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted.[6]

In his book *City Economics*, Brendan O'Flaherty asserts "Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages".[7] O'Flaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as [increasing returns to scale](/source/Increasing_returns_to_scale) and [economies of scale](/source/Economies_of_scale), which are concepts usually associated with [businesses](/source/Business). Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well. Increasing returns to scale occurs when "doubling all inputs more than doubles the output [and] an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost".[8]

Similarly, "Are Cities Dying?", a paper by Harvard economist [Edward L. Glaeser](/source/Edward_Glaeser), delves into similar reasons for city formation: reduced transport costs for goods, people and ideas. Discussing the benefits of proximity, Glaeser claims that if a city is doubled in size, workers get a ten percent increase in earnings. Glaeser furthers his argument by stating that bigger cities do not pay more for equal productivity than in a smaller city, so it is reasonable to assume that workers become more productive if they move to a city twice the size as they initially worked in. The workers do not benefit much from the ten percent wage increase, because it is recycled back into the higher cost of living in a larger city.

### Childe's ten criteria

Main article: [Urban revolution](/source/Urban_revolution)

The first true towns are sometimes considered large settlements where the inhabitants were no longer simply farmers of the surrounding area, but began to take on specialized occupations, and where trade, food storage and power were centralized. In 1950 [Gordon Childe](/source/Gordon_Childe) attempted to define a historic city with ten general metrics.[9] These are:

1. Size and density of the population should be above normal.
1. Differentiation of the population. Not all residents grow their own food, leading to specialists.
1. Payment of taxes to a deity or king.
1. Monumental public buildings.
1. Those not producing their own food are supported by the king.
1. Systems of recording and practical science.
1. A system of writing.
1. Development of symbolic art.
1. Trade and import of raw materials.
1. Specialist craftsmen from outside the kin-group.

This categorisation is descriptive, and it is used as a general touchstone when considering ancient cities, although not all have each of its characteristics.

## Ancient times

The more complex human societies, called the [first civilizations](/source/First_civilization), emerged around 3000 [BCE](/source/Common_Era) in the river valleys of [Mesopotamia](/source/Mesopotamia), [Minoan Crete](/source/Minoan_civilization), the [Indus Valley Civilization](/source/Indus_Valley_Civilization), [China](/source/History_of_China#Bronze_Age), and [Egypt](/source/Ancient_Egypt#Early_Dynastic_Period_(c._3150–2686_BC)). An increase in [food production](/source/Food_production) led to the significant growth in human population and the rise of cities. The peoples of [Southwest Asia](/source/Southwest_Asia) and Egypt laid the foundations of [Western civilization](/source/Western_culture): they developed cities and struggled with the problems of organised states as they moved from individual communities to larger territorial units and eventually to [empires](/source/Empire).[10] Among these early civilizations, Egypt is exceptional for its apparent lack of big cities.[11]

The growth of the population of ancient civilizations, the formation of ancient empires concentrating political power, and the growth in commerce and manufacturing led to ever greater capital cities and centres of commerce and industry, with [Alexandria](/source/Alexandria), [Antioch](/source/Antioch) and [Seleucia](/source/Seleucia_on_the_Tigris) of the [Hellenistic civilization](/source/Hellenistic_civilization), [Pataliputra](/source/Pataliputra) (now [Patna](/source/Patna)) in India, [Chang'an](/source/Chang'an) (now [Xi'an](/source/Xi'an)) in China, [Carthage](/source/Carthage), [ancient Rome](/source/Ancient_Rome) and its eastern successor Constantinople (now [Istanbul](/source/Istanbul)).

The roster of early urban traditions is notable for its diversity. Excavations at early urban sites show that some cities were sparsely populated political capitals, others were trade centers, and still other cities had a primarily religious focus. Some cities had large dense populations, whereas others carried out urban activities in the realms of politics or religion without having large associated populations. Theories that attempt to explain ancient urbanism by a single factor, such as economic benefit, fail to capture the range of variation documented by archaeologists.[12]

### Mediterranean and Mesopotamia

Further information: [Cities of the Ancient Near East](/source/Cities_of_the_Ancient_Near_East), [Polis](/source/Polis), [City-state](/source/City-state) and [Colonies in antiquity](/source/Colonies_in_antiquity)

The earliest known [proto-cities](/source/Proto-city) include [Jericho](/source/Jericho) and [Çatalhöyük](/source/%C3%87atalh%C3%B6y%C3%BCk), a settlement in southern [Anatolia](/source/Anatolia) that existed from approximately 7400 BCE to 5600 BCE whose earlier East Mound may have accommodated a population of 600-800 by 6700 BCE, and possibly several thousands at a later date.[13] Hunting, agriculture and animal domestication all played a role in the society of Çatalhöyük.

[Eridu](/source/Eridu) was one of the earliest cities (5400 BCE – 600 BCE), and located in southern modern day [Iraq](/source/Iraq).[citation needed]

[Mesopotamia](/source/Mesopotamia), the area of the [Tigris](/source/Tigris) and [Euphrates](/source/Euphrates) within modern day [Iraq](/source/Iraq) and [Syria](/source/Syria), was home to numerous cities by the third millennium BCE. These cities formed the basis of the [Sumerian](/source/Sumer) and subsequent cultures.[14] Cities such as Jericho, [Uruk](/source/Uruk), [Ur](/source/Ur), [Nineveh](/source/Nineveh), and [Babylon](/source/Babylon), made legendary by the [Bible](/source/Bible), have been located and excavated, while others such as [Damascus](/source/Damascus) and [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem) have been continuously populated.

The [Phoenician](/source/Phoenicia) trading empire, flourishing around the turn of the [first millennium BC](/source/First_millennium_BC), encompassed [numerous cities](/source/List_of_Phoenician_cities) extending from [Tyre](/source/Tyre,_Lebanon), [Sidon](/source/Sidon), and [Byblos](/source/Byblos), across the Mediterranean to [Carthage](/source/Carthage) (in modern [Tunisia](/source/Tunisia)) and [Cádiz](/source/C%C3%A1diz) (in modern [Spain](/source/Spain)). The name of [Melqart](/source/Melqart), an important Phoenician deity, comes from [M-L-K](/source/Malik) and Q-R-T, meaning "king" and "city".[15]

Beginning in the early first millennium, independent [city-states](/source/City-states) in Greece began to flourish, evolving the notion of [citizenship](/source/Citizenship), becoming in the process the archetype of the [free city](/source/Free_city_(antiquity)), the [polis](/source/Polis).[16] The [agora](/source/Agora), meaning "gathering place" or "assembly", was the center of athletic, artistic, spiritual and political life of the polis.[17] These Greek city-states reached great levels of prosperity that resulted in an unprecedented cultural boom, that of [classical Greece](/source/Classical_Greece), expressed in architecture, drama, science, mathematics and philosophy, and nurtured in [Athens](/source/Athens) under a [democratic government](/source/Democracy). The Greek [Hippodamus of Miletus](/source/Hippodamus_of_Miletus) (c. 407 BCE) has been dubbed the "Father of City Planning" for his design of [Miletus](/source/Miletus); the Hippodamian, or grid plan, was the basis for subsequent Greek and Roman cities.[18] In the 4th century BCE, [Alexander the Great](/source/Alexander_the_Great) commissioned [Dinocrates of Rhodes](/source/Dinocrates_of_Rhodes) to lay out his new city of [Alexandria](/source/Alexandria), the grandest example of idealized urban planning of the ancient Mediterranean world, where the city's regularity was facilitated by its level site near a mouth of the Nile.

The [rise of Rome](/source/Rise_of_Rome) again shifted the locus of political power, resulting in economic and demographic[a] gain for the city of [Rome](/source/Rome) itself, and a new political regime in the form of the [Roman Empire](/source/Roman_Empire). Rome [founded many cities](/source/List_of_cities_founded_by_the_Romans) (*[coloniae](/source/Colonia_(Roman))*), characteristically imposing a grid pattern made of north–south *[cardines](/source/Cardo)* and east–west *decumani*. The intersection of the *cardo maximus* and the *[decumanus maximus](/source/Decumanus_maximus)* marked the [origin](/source/Origin_(mathematics)) of the city [grid](/source/Grid_plan). Following these standard plans, Rome founded hundreds of cities and exerted substantial influence toward urbanizing the Mediterranean. In the process, Rome developed [sanitation](/source/Sanitation_in_ancient_Rome), [public housing](/source/Public_housing), [public buildings](/source/Public_buildings) and the [forum](/source/Forum_(Roman)).[19] In the [late Roman Empire](/source/Late_Roman_Empire) political power was increasingly held by [bishops](/source/Bishop) of the [Christian Church](/source/Christian_Church).

### Asia

The [Indus Valley Civilization](/source/Indus_Valley_Civilization) and ancient China are two other areas with major indigenous urban traditions. Among the early Old World cities, [Mohenjo-daro](/source/Mohenjo-daro) of the Indus Valley Civilization in present-day [Pakistan](/source/Pakistan), existing from about 2600 BCE, was one of the largest, with a population of 50,000 or more and a [sophisticated sanitation system](/source/Sanitation_of_the_Indus_Valley_Civilisation).[20] Additionally, [Mehrgarh](/source/Mehrgarh), an archaeological site dating to circa 7000 BCE can be considered one of the first cities in the world, and the origin of agriculture in South Asia.[citation needed]

[China's planned cities](/source/Ancient_Chinese_urban_planning) date to the turn of the [second millennium BCE](/source/Second_millennium_BC). City-states emerging at this time used [geomancy](/source/Geomancy) to locate and plan cities, orienting their walls to cardinal points. Symbolic cities were constructed as celestial [microcosms](/source/Macrocosm_and_microcosm), with the central point corresponding to the [pole star](/source/Pole_star) representing harmony and connection between the earthly and other realms. In [Chang'an](/source/Chang'an) the imperial palace lay to the north, facing south, absorbing the light of the sun, and royalty slept with their heads to the north and their feet to the south. Next came the Imperial City, and then the people's city, divided into eastern and western halves.[21]

### West Africa

Agriculture was practiced in [West Africa](/source/West_Africa) since the third millennium BC. Because of this, cities could develop as centers of non-agricultural activity, well before the influence of Arab [urban culture](/source/Urban_culture). From 1600 BC, [Dhar Tichitt](/source/Dhar_Tichitt), in the south of present-day [Mauritania](/source/Mauritania), presented characteristics suggestive of an incipient form of urbanism.[22][23] The second place to show urban characteristics in [West Africa](/source/West_Africa) was [Dia](/source/Dia,_Mali), in present-day [Mali](/source/Mali), from 800 BC.[22][23] Both Dhar Tichitt and Dia were founded by the same people: the [Soninke](/source/Soninke_people), who would later also found the [Ghana Empire](/source/Ghana_Empire).[23]

Another ancient site, [Jenné-Jeno](/source/Jenn%C3%A9-Jeno), in what is today [Mali](/source/Mali), has been dated to the third century BCE. According to Roderick and Susan McIntosh, Jenné-Jeno did not fit into traditional Western conceptions of urbanity as it lacked monumental architecture and a distinctive elite social class, but it should indeed be considered a city based on a functional redefinition of urban development. In particular, Jenné-Jeno featured settlement mounds arranged according to a horizontal, rather than vertical, power hierarchy, and served as a center of specialized production and exhibited functional interdependence with the surrounding hinterland.[24]

More recently, scholars have concluded that the [civilization](/source/Civilization) of Djenne-Djenno was likely established by the [Mande](/source/Mand%C3%A9_peoples) progenitors of the [Bozo people](/source/Bozo_people). Their habitation of the site spanned the period from 3rd century BCE to 13th century CE.[25] Archaeological evidence from Jenné-Jeno, specifically the presence of non-West African glass beads dated from the third century BCE to the fourth century CE, indicates that pre-Arabic trade contacts probably existed between Jenné-Jeno and North Africa.[26]

Additionally, other early urban centers in West Africa, dated to around 500 CE, include [Awdaghust](/source/Aoudaghost), [Kumbi Saleh](/source/Koumbi_Saleh), the ancient capital of Ghana, and [Maranda](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marandet), a center located on a trade route between Egypt and Gao.[27]

### Americas

In the [ancient Americas](/source/Pre-Columbian_era), early [urban traditions](/source/Mesoamerican_architecture) developed in the [Andes](/source/Andes) and [Mesoamerica](/source/Mesoamerica). In the Andes, the first urban centers developed in the [Norte Chico civilization](/source/Norte_Chico_civilization) (also [Caral](/source/Caral) or Caral-Supe civilization), [Chavin](/source/Chav%C3%ADn_culture) and [Moche](/source/Moche_(culture)) cultures, followed by major cities in the [Huari](/source/Huari_culture), [Chimu](/source/Chimu) and [Inca](/source/Inca) cultures. The Norte Chico civilization included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now the [Norte Chico region](/source/Norte_Chico_(Peruvian_region)) of north-central coastal [Peru](/source/Peru). It is the oldest known civilization in the Americas, flourishing between the 30th century BCE and the 18th century BCE.[28] Mesoamerica saw the rise of early urbanism in several cultural regions, including the [Preclassic Maya](/source/Maya_city), the [Zapotec](/source/Zapotec_civilization) of Oaxaca, and [Teotihuacan](/source/Teotihuacan) in central Mexico. Later cultures such as the [Aztec](/source/Aztec) drew on these earlier urban traditions.

Teotihuacan, flourishing from 200 BCE to 750 CE, was the largest American city of the [pre-Columbian era](/source/Pre-Columbian_era), possibly reaching a population of 125,000 in 200 CE. The city's grid plan originated with the "Avenue of the Dead", connecting the [Temple of the Feathered Serpent](/source/Temple_of_the_Feathered_Serpent,_Teotihuacan) and the [Pyramid of the Moon](/source/Pyramid_of_the_Moon).[29] Beyond its [ceremonial center](/source/Pyramid_of_the_Sun) the city featured religious buildings (23 temple complexes) and myriad workshops. Although its religious system was clearly expansive and significant, details of its political and economic functioning remain matters of speculation.[30]

## Middle Ages

In the [remnants of the Roman Empire](/source/Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire), [cities of late antiquity](/source/Late_Antiquity#Cities) at first gained independence, but lost their population and their importance, starting in [Roman Britain](/source/Roman_Britain) and [Germania](/source/Germania). The locus of wealth in the West shifted to [Constantinople](/source/Constantinople) and to the [ascendant Islamic civilization](/source/Early_Muslim_conquests) with its major cities [Baghdad](/source/Baghdad),[b] [Cairo](/source/Cairo), and [Córdoba](/source/C%C3%B3rdoba,_Spain).[31]

From the 9th through the end of the 12th century, [Constantinople](/source/Constantinople), capital of the [Byzantine Empire](/source/Byzantine_Empire), was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe, with a population approaching 1 million.[32][33] Following the [Byzantine–Ottoman wars](/source/Byzantine%E2%80%93Ottoman_wars) and other conflicts, the [Ottoman Empire](/source/Ottoman_Empire) gained [control over many cities](/source/List_of_cities_conquered_by_the_Ottoman_Empire) in the Mediterranean area, including [Constantinople in 1453](/source/Fall_of_Constantinople).

During the [European Middle Ages](/source/European_Middle_Ages), a town was as much a political entity as a collection of [houses](/source/House). City residence brought freedom from customary rural obligations to lord and community: *"[Stadtluft macht frei](/source/Stadtluft_macht_frei)"* ("City air makes you free") was a saying in Germany. In [Continental Europe](/source/Continental_Europe) cities with a legislature of their own were not unheard of, the laws for towns as a rule other than for the countryside, the lord of a town often being another than for surrounding land. In the [Holy Roman Empire](/source/Holy_Roman_Empire), some cities had no other lord than the emperor. Some planned towns were created, in Britain by [King Edward I](/source/King_Edward_I) to colonize [Wales](/source/Wales) and in France, *[bastides](/source/Bastide)*, fortified cities designed on a regular plan.[34]

By the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries some cities become powerful states, taking surrounding areas under their control or establishing extensive maritime empires. In Italy [medieval communes](/source/Medieval_commune) developed into [city-states](/source/Italian_city-states) including the [Republic of Venice](/source/Republic_of_Venice) and the [Republic of Genoa](/source/Republic_of_Genoa). These cities, with populations in the tens of thousands, amassed enormous wealth by means of extensive trade in eastern [luxury goods](/source/Luxury_goods) such as [spices](/source/Spice_trade) and [silk](/source/Silk), as well as [iron](/source/Iron), [timber](/source/Timber), and [slaves](/source/Slave). Venice [introduced](/source/Venetian_Ghetto) the *[ghetto](/source/Ghetto)*, a specially regulated neighborhood for [Jews](/source/Jew) only. In Northern Europe, cities including [Lübeck](/source/L%C3%BCbeck) and [Bruges](/source/Bruges) formed the [Hanseatic League](/source/Hanseatic_League) for collective defense and commerce. Their power was later [challenged](/source/Dutch%E2%80%93Hanseatic_War) and eclipsed by the [Dutch](/source/Burgundian_Netherlands) commercial [cities](/source/History_of_urban_centers_in_the_Low_Countries) of [Ghent](/source/Ghent), [Ypres](/source/Ypres), and [Amsterdam](/source/Amsterdam). ([City rights](/source/City_rights_in_the_Low_Countries) were granted by nobility.) The city's central function was commerce, enabled by waterways and ports; the cities themselves were heavily fortified with walls and sometimes [moats](/source/Moat).[35]

Similar phenomena existed elsewhere, as in the case of [Sakai](/source/Sakai,_Osaka), which enjoyed a considerable autonomy in late medieval Japan.

In the first millennium CE, an urban tradition developed in the Khmer region of Cambodia, where [Angkor](/source/Angkor) grew into one of the largest cities (in area) of the world.[36] The closest rival to Angkor, the Mayan city of [Tikal](/source/Tikal) in Guatemala, was between 100 and 150 square kilometres (39 and 58 sq mi) in total size.[37] Although its population remains a topic of research and debate, newly identified agricultural systems in the Angkor area may have supported up to one million people.[38]

While the [city-states](/source/City-state), or [poleis](/source/Polis), of the [Mediterranean](/source/Mediterranean) and [Baltic Sea](/source/Baltic_Sea) languished from the 16th century, [Western Europe](/source/Western_Europe)'s larger capitals grew again as commercial hubs, especially following the emergence of an [Atlantic](/source/Atlantic_Ocean) trade. By the early 19th century, [London](/source/London) had become the largest city in the world with a population of over a million, while [Paris](/source/Paris) rivaled the well-developed regionally traditional capital cities of Baghdad, Beijing, Istanbul and [Kyoto](/source/Kyoto). [Bastion forts](/source/Bastion_fort) arose in an attempt to make cities defensible against strengthening military firepower.[34]

The Aztec city of [Tenochtitlan](/source/Tenochtitlan), in present-day Mexico, had an estimated population between 200,000 and 300,000 when the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived in 1519. During the [Spanish colonization of the Americas](/source/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas) the old Roman city concept was extensively used. Cities were founded in the middle of the newly conquered territories, and were bound to several laws about administration, finances and urbanism.

West Africa already had cities before the [Common Era](/source/Common_Era), but the consolidation of [Trans-Saharan trade](/source/Trans-Saharan_trade) in the Middle Ages multiplied the number of cities in the region, as well as making some of them very populous, notably [Gao](/source/Gao) (72,000 inhabitants in 800 AD), [Oyo-Ile](/source/Old_Oyo) (50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD, and may have reached up to 140,000 inhabitants in the 18th century), [Ile-Ifẹ̀](/source/If%E1%BA%B9%CC%80) (70,000 to 105,000 inhabitants in the 14th and 15th centuries), [Niani](/source/Niani,_Guinea) (50,000 inhabitants in 1400 AD) and [Timbuktu](/source/Timbuktu) (100,000 inhabitants in 1450 AD).[22][39]

Most towns remained small, so that in 1500 only some two dozen places in the world contained more than 100,000 inhabitants. As late as 1700, there were fewer than forty, a figure that rose to 300 in 1900.

## Industrial Revolution

The [growth of modern industry](/source/Industrial_Revolution) from the late 18th century onward led to massive [urbanization](/source/Urbanization) and the rise of new great cities, first in Europe and then in other regions, as new opportunities brought huge numbers of migrants from rural communities into urban areas. England led the way as [London](/source/London) became the capital of a [world empire](/source/British_Empire) and cities across the country grew in locations strategic for [manufacturing](/source/Manufacturing).[40] In the United States from 1860 to 1910, the [introduction of railroads](/source/History_of_rail_transport) reduced transportation costs, and large manufacturing centers began to emerge, fueling migration from rural to city areas.

Industrialized cities became deadly places to live, due to health problems resulting from [overcrowding](/source/Overcrowding), [occupational hazards](/source/Occupational_hazard) of industry, contaminated water and air, [poor sanitation](/source/History_of_water_supply_and_sanitation#Modern_age), and communicable diseases such as [typhoid](/source/Typhoid) and [cholera](/source/Cholera). [Factories](/source/Factories) and [slums](/source/Slum) emerged as regular features of the urban landscape.[41]

### Infrastructure

The 19th century saw the rise of [public transportation](/source/Public_transportation), such as [horsebuses](/source/Horsebus), followed by [horse trams](/source/Horse_tram). At the end of the 19th century, electric [urban rail transport](/source/Urban_rail_transport) (including [trams](/source/Tram) and [rapid transit](/source/Rapid_transit)) began to replace them, later completed with [buses](/source/Bus) and other [motor vehicles](/source/Motor_vehicles).

[Street lights](/source/Street_light) were uncommon until [gas lighting](/source/Gas_lighting) became widespread in Europe in the early 19th century. [Fuel gas](/source/Fuel_gas) was also used for heating and cooking. From the 1880s, [electrification](/source/Electrification) began, making electricity the main energy medium in cities until present day.

Modern [water supply networks](/source/Water_supply_network) began to expand during the 19th century.

## 20th century

Growth of cities continued through the twentieth century and increased dramatically in the [Third World](/source/Third_World) (including [India](/source/Urbanisation_in_India), [China](/source/Urbanization_in_China), and [Africa](/source/Urbanization_in_Africa)), due to [industrialization](/source/Industrialization), active promotion of urbanization, and other factors.

[Urban planning](/source/Urban_planning) became widespread and professionalized. At the turn of the century, the "[garden city](/source/Garden_city_movement)" model became the icon of a self-contained, comprehensively designed, residential and commercial settlement. Professional [urban planners](/source/Urban_planner) appeared in large numbers, not only to design cities, but to provide technical expertise to their administration.

[Cities in the great depression](/source/Cities_in_the_great_depression) of the 1930s, especially those with a base in heavy industry, were hard hit by [unemployment](/source/Unemployment). In the U.S. urbanization rate increased forty to eighty percent during 1900–1990. Today the world's population is slightly over half urban,[42] and continues to urbanize, with roughly a million people moving into cities every 24 hours worldwide.

During the 20th century, [car](/source/Car) ownership has increased steadily, parallel with [suburban sprawl](/source/Suburban_sprawl), [highways](/source/Highway) and other development for the car. Awareness of [ecology](/source/Ecology) in the mid-20th century created the [environmental movement](/source/Environmental_movement), which has addressed the need for [sustainable development](/source/Sustainable_development).

In the second half of the twentieth century, [deindustrialization](/source/Deindustrialization) (or "[economic restructuring](/source/Economic_restructuring)") in the West led to [poverty](/source/Poverty), [homelessness](/source/Homelessness), and [urban decay](/source/Urban_decay) in formerly prosperous cities. America's "Steel Belt" became a "[Rust Belt](/source/Rust_Belt)" and cities such as [Detroit](/source/Decline_of_Detroit), Michigan, and [Gary, Indiana](/source/Gary,_Indiana) began to [shrink](/source/Shrinking_cities), contrary to the global trend of massive urban expansion.[43] Under the [Great Leap Forward](/source/Great_Leap_Forward) and subsequent [five-year plans](/source/Five-year_plans_of_China) continuing today, the [People's Republic of China](/source/People's_Republic_of_China) has undergone concomitant [urbanization](/source/Urbanization_in_China) and [industrialization](/source/Chinese_industrialization) to become the world's leading [manufacturer](/source/Manufacturing).[44][45]

## 21st century

There is a debate about whether [technology](/source/High_technology) and instantaneous communications are making cities obsolete, or reinforcing the importance of big cities as centres of the [knowledge economy](/source/Knowledge_economy).[46][47][48] Knowledge-based development of cities, globalization of innovation networks, and broadband services are driving forces of a new city planning paradigm towards [smart cities](/source/Smart_city) that use technology and communication to create more efficient agglomerations in terms of competitiveness, innovation, environment, energy, utilities, governance, and delivery of services to the citizen. Some companies are building brand new [masterplanned](/source/Land_use_planning) cities from scratch on [greenfield](/source/Greenfield_land) sites.

- [Gujarat International Finance Tec-City](/source/Gujarat_International_Finance_Tec-City), India
- [Nano City](/source/Nano_City), India
- [Putrajaya](/source/Putrajaya), Malaysia
- [Bonifacio Global City](/source/Bonifacio_Global_City), Philippines
- [King Abdullah Economic City](/source/King_Abdullah_Economic_City), Saudi Arabia
- [Sejong City](/source/Sejong_City), South Korea
- [Songdo International Business District](/source/Songdo_International_Business_District), South Korea
- [Dubai Waterfront](/source/Dubai_Waterfront), United Arab Emirates
- [Dubai World Central](/source/Dubai_World_Central), United Arab Emirates
- [Masdar City](/source/Masdar_City), United Arab Emirates

## See also

- [History of water supply and sanitation](/source/History_of_water_supply_and_sanitation)
- [List of oldest continuously inhabited cities](/source/List_of_oldest_continuously_inhabited_cities)

## Notes

1. [Keith Hopkins](/source/Keith_Hopkins) estimates that [ancient Rome](/source/Ancient_Rome) had a population of about a million people by the end of the 1st century BC,[49] after growing continually during the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st centuries BC, making it the largest city in the world at the time.[50] Alexandria's population was also close to Rome's population at around the same time, the historian [Rostovtzeff](/source/Michael_Rostovtzeff) estimates a total population close to a million based on a census dated from 32 AD that counted 180,000 adult male citizens in Alexandria.[51]

1. George Modelski considers medieval Baghdad, with an estimated population of 1.2 million at its peak, the largest city before 19th century London and the first with a population of over one million.[52] Others estimate that Baghdad's population may have been as large as 2 million in the 9th century.[53]

## References

1. Bosker, Maarten (2022). "City origins". *[Regional Science and Urban Economics](/source/Regional_Science_and_Urban_Economics)*. **94**. [doi:10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2021.103677](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2021.103677)

1. (Bairoch 1988, pp. 3–4)

1. Bassett, California

1. (Pacione 2001, p. 16)

1. (Bairoch 1988, p. 13)

1. (Jacobs 1969, p. 23)

1. (O'Flaherty 2005, p. 12)

1. (O'Flaherty 2005, pp. 572–573)

1. Childe, V. Gordon (1950). "The Urban Revolution". *The Town Planning Review*. **21** (1): 3–17. [doi:10.3828/tpr.21.1.k853061t614q42qh](https://doi.org/10.3828/tpr.21.1.k853061t614q42qh). [JSTOR 40102108](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40102108). [S2CID 39517784](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:39517784)

1. Spielvogel, Jackson (2014). [*Western Civilization: Volume A: To 1500*](https://books.google.com/books?id=LceiAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT65). Cengage Learning. pp. 65–. ISBN 978-1-285-98299-1. Retrieved 11 July 2015.

1. Michael E. Smith, "[Earliest Cities](http://www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/1-CompleteSet/MES-02-EarlyCities.pdf)"; in *Urban Life: Readings in the Anthropology of the City*, Fourth Edition, ed. George Gmelch & Walter P. Zenner; Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, 2002. ISBN 9781577661948

1. Smith 2002

1. Kuijt, Ian & Marciniak, Arkadiusz (2024). "How many people lived in the world's earliest villages? Reconsidering community size and population pressure at Neolithic Çatalhöyük". *Journal of Anthropological Archaeology*. **74**. [doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101573](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101573)

1. Adams (1981), p. 2. "Southern Mesopotamia was a land of cities. It became one precociously, before the end of the fourth millennium B.C. Urban traditions remained strong and virtually continuous through the vicissitudes of conquest, internal upheaval accompanied by widespread economic breakdown, and massive linguistic and population replacement. The symbolic and material content of civilization obviously changed, but its cultural ambience remained tied to cities."

1. [Georges Perrot](/source/Georges_Perrot) & [Charles Chipiez](/source/Charles_Chipiez), *[History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependences, Vol. 1](https://archive.org/details/historyofartinph01perriala)*; translated from French to English and edited by [Walter Armstrong](/source/Walter_Armstrong_(art_historian)); London: Chapman and Hall, 1885; p. [67](https://archive.org/stream/historyofartinph01perriala#page/66/mode/2up).

1. Pocock, J. G. A. (1998). [*The Citizenship Debates*](https://books.google.com/books?id=i6U7CTuCJLYC&pg=PA31). Chapter 2 – The Ideal of Citizenship since Classical Times (originally published in *Queen's Quarterly* 99, no. 1). Minneapolis, MN: The University of Minnesota. p. 31. ISBN 0-8166-2880-7.

1. Trudy Ring; Robert Salkin; Sharon Boda (January 1, 1996). *International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe*. Routledge. p. 66. ISBN 978-1-884964-02-2.

1. , p.73-76

1. Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 41–42. "Rome created an elaborate urban system. Roman colonies were organized as a means of securing Roman territory. The first thing that Romans did when they conquered new territories was to establish cities."

1. Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (1998) *Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization*. [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press), Karachi and New York.

1. Southall (1998), pp. 38–43.

1. Monroe, J. Cameron (2018). ""Elephants for Want of Towns": Archaeological Perspectives on West African Cities and Their Hinterlands". *Journal of Archaeological Research*. **26** (4): 387–446. [doi:10.1007/s10814-017-9114-2](https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-017-9114-2)

1. MacDonald, Kevin (2015). "The Tichitt tradition in the West African Sahel". *The Cambridge World History.*. Barker, Graeme & Barker, Candice (eds.). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. pp. 409–513.

1. McIntosh, Roderic J., McIntosh, Susan Keech. "Early Urban Configurations on the Middle Niger: Clustered Cities and Landscapes of Power," Chapter 5.

1. Vydrin, Valentin (2018). ["Mande Languages"](https://oxfordre.com/linguistics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/acrefore-9780199384655-e-397). *Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics*. Oxford University Press. [doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.397](https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.397). ISBN 978-0-19-938465-5.

1. Magnavita, Sonja (2013). ["Initial Encounters: Seeking traces of ancient trade connections between West Africa and the wider world"](http://afriques.revues.org/1145?lang=en). *Afriques*. '***(4). [doi:10.4000/afriques.1145](https://doi.org/10.4000/afriques.1145). Retrieved December 13, 2013.***

1. *[History of African Cities South of the Sahara](http://markuswiener.com/book_reviews.html?products_id=93&products_name=History%20of%20African%20Cities%20South%20of%20the%20Sahara) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20080124191535/http://markuswiener.com/book_reviews.html?products_id=93&products_name=History%20of%20African%20Cities%20South%20of%20the%20Sahara) 2008-01-24 at the Wayback Machine* By Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch. 2005. ISBN 1-55876-303-1

1. Shady Solís, Ruth Martha (1997). [*La ciudad sagrada de Caral-Supe en los albores de la civilización en el Perú*](http://sisbib.unmsm.edu.pe/Bibvirtual/Libros/Arqueologia/ciudad_sagrada/caratula.htm) (in Spanish). Lima: UNMSM, Fondo Editorial. Retrieved 2007-03-03.

1. [René Millon](/source/Ren%C3%A9_Millon), cited in Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 37–38. "The regularity of Teotihuacán began with the main street, the "Street of the Dead," which stretched from the Great Compound and the Temple of Quetzacoatal to another great pyramid, the Pyramid of the Moon. Every other major street, and even the river running through the city, was laid out either parallel or perpendicular to this grand avenue."

1. Southall (1998), 48–50.

1. Kaplan et al. (2004), p. 43. "Capitals like Córdoba and Cairo had populations of about 500,000; Baghdad probably had a population of more than 1 million. This urban heritage would continue despite the conquests of the Seljuk Turks and the later Crusades. China, the longest standing civilization, was in the midst of a golden age as the Tang dynasty gave way—after a short period of fragmentation—to the Song dynasty. This dynasty ruled two of the most impressive cities on the planet, Xian and Hangzhou. / In contrast, poor Western Europe had not recovered from the sacking of Rome and the collapse of the western half of the Roman Empire. For more than five centuries a steady process of deurbanization—whereby the population living in cities and the number of cities declined precipitously—had converted a prosperous landscape into a scary wilderness, overrun with bandits, warlords, and rude settlements."

1. Cameron, Averil (2009). [*The Byzantines*](https://books.google.com/books?id=59c6PSa5JCAC). John Wiley and Sons. p. 47. ISBN 978-1-4051-9833-2. Retrieved 24 January 2015.

1. Laiou, Angeliki E. (2002). ["Writing the Economic History of Byzantium"](http://www.doaks.org/publications/doaks_online_publications/EHB.html). *The Economic History of Byzantium (Volume 1)*. Angeliki E. Laiou (ed.). Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks. pp. 130–131.

1. Kaplan et al. (2004), p. 52. "Many cities were constructed with fortifications, or *bastides*, in mind. These fortifications would often take the form of a regular geometric shape, with towers laid out a[t] regular intervals, and gates allowing entrance into the city itself. The streets within the Bastide city were likewise regularly placed, intended to connect logically to each other, to the central market square, and to the town gates. The placement and pattern of streets was also intended to facilitate the movement of armaments and men to the city defenses. Building took place after the layout had been imposed, creating a more orderly landscape."

1. Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 47–50.

1. Evans *et al.*, [A comprehensive archaeological map of the world's largest preindustrial settlement complex at Angkor, Cambodia](http://www.pnas.org/content/104/36/14277), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, August 23, 2007.

1. "Map reveals ancient urban sprawl," *BBC News*, 14 August 2007.

1. [Metropolis: Angkor, the world's first mega-city](https://web.archive.org/web/20080923054500/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/metropolis-angkor-the-worlds-first-megacity-461623.html), The Independent, August 15, 2007

1. *[African cities from 500 AD to 1900](https://www.african-cities.org/african-cities-from-500-ad-to-1900/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20220217094302/https://www.african-cities.org/african-cities-from-500-ad-to-1900/) 2022-02-17 at the Wayback Machine* By David Satterthwaite. 2021.

1. Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 53–54. "England was clearly at the center of these changes. London became the first truly global city by placing itself within the new global economy. English colonialism in North America, the Caribbean, South Asia, and later Africa and China helped to further fatten the wallets of many of its merchants. These colonies would later provide many of the raw materials for industrial production. England's hinterland was no longer confined to a portion of the world; it effectively became a global hinterland."

1. Kaplan et al. (2004), pp. 54–55.

1. ["Mayday 23: World Population Becomes More Urban Than Rural"](http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/2007/may/104.html). News.ncsu.edu. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20090107023453/http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/2007/may/104.html) 7 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-02-07.

1. Steven High, *[Industrial Sunset: The Making of North America's Rust Belt, 1969–1984](https://archive.org/details/industrialsunset0000high/page/5)*; University of Toronto Press, 2003; ISBN 0-8020-8528-8. "It is now clear that the deindustrialization thesis is part myth and part fact. Robert Z. Lawrence, for example, uses aggregate economic data to show that manufacturing employment in the United States did not decline but actually increased from 16.8 million in 1960, to 20.1 million in 1973, and 20.3 million in 1980. However, manufacturing employment was in relative decline. Barry Bluestone noted that manufacturing represented a decreasing proportion of the U.S. labour force, from 26.2 per cent in 1973 to 22.1 per cent in 1980. Studies in Canada have likewise shown that manufacturing employment was only in relative decline during these years. Yet mills and factories did close, and towns and cities lost their industries. John Cumbler submitted that 'depressions do not manifest themselves only at moments of national economic collapse' such as in the 1930s, but 'also recur in scattered sites across the nation in regions, in industries, and in communities.'"

1. James Xiaohe Zhang, "Rapid urbanization in China and its impact on the world economy"; 16th Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis, "New Challenges for Global Trade in a Rapidly Changing World", Shanhai Institute of Foreign Trade, June 12–14, 2013.

1. Ian Johnson, "[China's Great Uprooting: Moving 250 Million Into Cities](https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/16/world/asia/chinas-great-uprooting-moving-250-million-into-cities.html?pagewanted=all)"; *New York Times*, 15 June 2013.

1. Castells, M. (ed) (2004). *The network society: a cross-cultural perspective*. London: Edward Elgar. (ebook)

1. Flew, T. (2008). *New media: an introduction*, 3rd edn, South Melbourne: Oxford University Press

1. Harford, T. (2008) *The Logic of Life*. London: Little, Brown.

1. Tellier, Luc-Normand (2009). [*Urban World History: An Economic and Geographical Perspective*](https://books.google.com/books?id=cXuCjDbxC1YC&pg=PA185). PUQ. p. 185. ISBN 978-2-7605-2209-1.

1. On The Political Economy of the Roman Empire, Keith Hopkins

1. Rostovtzeff 1941: 1138–39

1. George Modelski, *World Cities: –3000 to 2000*, Washington DC: FAROS 2000, 2003. ISBN 0-9676230-1-4. See also [Evolutionary World Politics Homepage](http://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070520065457/http://faculty.washington.edu/modelski/) May 20, 2007 at the Wayback Machine.

1. Trudy Ring; Robert M. Salkin; K. A. Berney; Paul E. Schellinger (1996). *International dictionary of historic places, Volume 4: Middle East and Africa*. [Taylor and Francis](/source/Taylor_and_Francis). p. 116.

### Bibliography

- [Adams, Robert McC.](/source/Robert_McCormick_Adams_Jr.) (1981). *[Heartland of Cities: Surveys of Ancient Settlement and Land Use on the Central Floodplain of the Euphrates](https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/heartland_of_cities.pdf).* University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-00544-5
- Bairoch, Paul (1988). [*Cities and Economic Development: From the Dawn of History to the Present*](https://archive.org/details/citieseconomicde0000bair). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-03465-2.
- Jacobs, Jane (1969). *The Economy of Cities*. New York: Random House Inc. ISBN 0-394-70584-X.
- Kaplan, David H.; James O. Wheeler; Steven R. Holloway; & Thomas W. Hodler, cartographer (2004). *Urban Geography*. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-35998-X
- O'Flaherty, Brendan (2005). *City Economics*. Cambridge Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01918-8.
- Pacione, Michael (2001). *The City: Critical Concepts in The Social Sciences*. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-25270-6.
- [Southall, Aidan](/source/Aidan_Southall) (1998). *The City in Time and Space*. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0 521 46211 8

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