Del i serien Comparative Urban Studies

Evolution of the Ancient City

Urban Theory and the Archaeology of the Fertile Crescent

Inbunden, Engelska, 2010

AvAlexander R. Thomas

1 879 kr

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Urban theory and archaeology merge to create a readable discussion of how ancient cities came to be. Although many consider our modern social ills to be the consequence of Capitalism, many urban problems are traceable to pre-Capitalist times and thus are more related to Urbanization. Ancient cities shared many characteristics with modern cities. For instance, the ancient cities of Rome and Carthage at the time of Christ had population densities approaching that of Manhattan Island today. The Canaanites, fifteen hundred years before, lived in cities oriented toward trade and dependent upon mass production of such items as wine, olive oil, and the pottery to contain such goods. Over three thousand years before the Common Era, the city of Uruk was part of a larger "global system" that resembled in its own way the globalization that we know today. Cities first arose in Mesopotamia about 5,500 years ago, but for 5,500 years before the rise of cities the small agricultural village was the most complex form of human social organization—clearly there was nothing inevitable about the city. The Evolution of the Ancient City explores what we can learn of modern cities by tracing the development of ancient cities.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2010-09-14
Mått162 x 241 x 21 mm
Vikt510 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieComparative Urban Studies
Antal sidor232
FörlagBloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN9780739138694

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Fascinating to read! Thomas brings a sociological perspective to the topic of how cities began, combining insights from standard urban theory with more classical sociological theory as well as anthropology and archaeology. He is able to do this partly as a result of having studied in many departments that combined the disciplines of sociology and anthropology, thus demonstrating that what most would criticize as of little value can lead to new insights and new ways of thinking. Focusing on “pristine cities” (which could not have developed in response to other urban forms), Thomas points to similarities and differences between them and current cities. He then shows that many of the characteristics we associate with modern cities actually existed long before the first cities emerged, many of the structures we consider unique to contemporary cities are found in ancient ones as well, and that contemporary urban problems such as inequality and segregation have ancient roots. The power of this work is how it causes the reader to question and re-frame urban sociology, and move from a focus on the city as the unit of analysis to that of the “urban system” which includes all areas, including rural ones, and cities of all sizes, into a more comprehensive understanding of contemporary urban society. I highly recommend it to urban sociologists and all those interested in urban life in general. They will not be disappointed.