Transcript When and Why did People Start Living in Cities?

Key Question:
WHEN AND WHY DID PEOPLE
START LIVING IN CITIES?
Cities
 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 (the
functional region).
Percent Urban Population
Fig. 13-1: Percent of the population living in urban areas is usually higher in MDCs
than in LDCs.
Shenzhen, China
The Modern
Process of
Urbanization
• a rural area can
become urbanized
quickly in the
modern world
•The tools and
technologies
needed for
urbanization are
already there.
Shenzhen, China
Shenzhen changed from a fishing village to a major metropolitan area in just 25
years. 25 years ago, all of this land was duck ponds and rice paddies.
The First Urban Revolution
Two components enable the formation of
cities:
1. an agricultural surplus
2. social stratification
(a leadership class)
Answer: Why?
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.
The Second Urban Revolution
A large scale movement of people to cities to
work in manufacturing. Made possible by:
1. second agricultural revolution that
improved food production and created a
larger surplus
2. industrialization, which encouraged
growth of cities near industrial resources
Industrialized regions of Europe, 1914
During the second half of the 20th
century…
•Nature of manufacturing
changed and locations changed so
sites of factories changed
•(much like our water factories
turned to steam… where did they
move? Why?)
•Many factories have been
abandoned, creating “rust belts”
out of once-thriving industrial
districts.
Duisburg, Germany
The US Rust Belt