Evolution of Town, Cities and Urbanworld perspective

Rajendra P SharmaSocial Anthropologist and Planner, Kathmandu, Nepal

rpsharma@mailcity.com2014

21st 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

Urban Definitions• Urban-The buildup of the

central city and the suburban realm – the city and the surrounding environs connected to the city (a general term for towns, cities and suburban areas)

• City- a conglomeration of people and buildings clustered together to serve as a center of politics, culture, and economics (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 Definitions 2• 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

Urban Morphology

The layout of a city, its physical form and structure.

Berlin, Germany

With wall (above)

And without wall (right)

Ancient Cities• Hearth 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.

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

• Cultural and Artistic pursuits

• Centers of education and research

• Entertainment of all types

• Sports teams, arenas and parks

• Medical advances

Five hearth 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.

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.

• They also served as educational centers with teachers and philosophers

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

The Earliest Civilization

Roman Urban

System• The Romans

created the largest urban system with an excellent transportation system

• The Romans were masters of engineering efficiency creating aqueducts, sewers, roads, bridges and great public buildings like arenas and baths.

Nimes, France

Roman Road construction Roman Road

Urban Growth• China-rapid growth

in the Han Dynasty period-Xian became the Rome of East Asia.

• Timbuktu developed in West Africa in the 14th cent. While Meroe on the upper Nile developed advanced metallurgy.

• Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital was the most advanced city in the world with 100,000 by the 16th cent.

Pre industrial Europe

• Paris, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Lisbon, Naples and Venice revived and grew.

• By mid-15th cent. London had 80,000 and Paris had 120,000. By 19th cent. London was 1 m. while Paris had only 670,000

Urban Environments

• By 17th cent. Europe’s cities were:–Slum ridden–Unsanitary–Fire traps–Plagued by

frequent epidemics

–Crime ridden–Places of social

dislocation

Primate Cities• Gideon Sjoberg was

also the first to study the primate city.

• A nation’s leading city in size that serves as an expression of national culture.

– Not necessarily large

– Dominated by religious and govt. buildings

– Spacious with wealth near the center

– Less privileged near the edge or outside wall

The Modern Western City

• Medieval city was bleak and grimy with narrow dangerous streets.

• Unpaved streets provided poor sanitation

• The tallest buildings were the Church & Castle

• Mercantile cities of the 16th & 17th cent. were nodes of regional, national and international trade

• Great cities like London, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Copenhagen grew with the wealth of colonies.

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

The Modern Western City

• Manufacturing city first developed in Britain, later Western Europe and North America.

• Rapidly growing factory system with railroads and tenement slums

• Sanitary systems, water supplies and housing were overwhelmed with rapid growth and pollution.

The Modern Western City

• Modernization of American cities took place in late 19th cent.

• Electric trolley and other forms of mass transportation transformed cities-transport systems became circumferential and radial.

• Suburbanization of the city became possible with 1920s revolution of the automobile

• Modern cities of North America are sprawling expanses of suburbs, shopping malls and business parks

• Hinterland - a German word that means land behind the city

• Spacing of cities-large cities lie farther apart-smaller settlements are closer to each other

• Industrial Revolution began in Europe-arrived in the US around 1870-in only 50 yrs. US surpassed Europe

• 25 million European immigrants arrived in America-many in manufacturing centers

Urbanization and Location

• 1800-despite Ind. Rev. Europe was still rural-by 1950 Europe was 50% urban-today 85% urban

• World today is 50% urban

• Agglomeration-clustering of industries for mutual benefit

• Specialization-certain industries dominate certain regions-Manchester textiles, Pittsburgh, Pa. steel

• Urban Planners look at:

–How cities are arranged

–What cities look like

–Transport & communications

–Why people move from place to place within the city

• Hinterland: the surrounding service area of a city that includes smaller villages and hamlets

• Centrality: the economic power or draw of a place compared to its competition

• Hamlet-small collection of houses-may have services.

• Village-several dozen services-stores, gas stations and so forth

• Town-larger than a village-higher level of specialization-banks, schools, libraries, specialized stores-furniture, appliances, hardware, etc.

• City-more functional specialization-larger hinterland, greater centrality, well defined CBD and suburbs

• Metropolis or Metropolitan area-urban area larger than a city

• Megalopolis-when large metropolises coalesce into a megacity, e.g. Boston to New York

Site and Situation

Site absolute location

of a city

a city’s static location, often chosen for trade, defense, or religion.

Situation

relative location of a city

a city’s place in the region and

the world around it.

• Paris-situational advantage-grew as the hinterland prospered; became multifunctional-religious, cultural, political, industrial center; today a megacity of 10 million; the next largest city is Lyon, France at 1/7th the size

• A primate city

Eiffel Tower built for the

1889 World’s Fair

Paris’s 450 parks and gardens cover over 7,400 acres-almost 30% of the city-one of Europe’s greenest cities.

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.

Shenzhen, China

Modern UrbanizationHighest level of Urbanization-Western Europe, North America, Japan & Australia

70% & higher-Mexico, Cuba, France

Former Soviet Union-Russia-73%, Ukraine-70%, Transcaucasus-55%, Central Asia-28%

South America-cone of Argentina, Chile & Uruguay-highest urbanization-next Brazil & Venezuela, Paraguay, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname & French Guiana lag behind.

Sub-Saharan Africa-some of the world’s lowest urbanization rates-Nigeria-16%, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi & Uganda are even lower. Tropical Africa-only a few nations that are 40% or higher-South Africa-57% due to mining and industry.

Southwest Asia-North Africa-great variety of urbanization.

Much of Middle East, esp. Arabian Peninsula are highly urbanized due to nucleation of the oil industry.

Jordan an exception-no oil wealth-but urban due to long tradition

Southern Arabia is oil poor and rural

Contrast-oil rich Libya is urban, oil poor Afghanistan is rural

South Asia-low in urbanization, despite huge cities like Mumbai and Calcutta

Most nations in South Asia are under 30% urban

India-26%

Pakistan-28%

Bangladesh-16%

Subsistence farming

dominates life here

Southeast Asia- Singapore is the only 100% urban state

Brunei & Malaysia are the only other nations with over 50% urban

Indonesia-31%

Myanmar-25%

Vietnam-20%

Thailand-19%

Subsistence farming

dominates life here

East Asia- Averages 36%

Only Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are highly urbanized in

East Asia

China below-25%

Yet Shanghai & Beijing

Have 25 million between

Them, however most of

China’s 1.2 m. are rural

Great Cities

• North America-several megalopolitan regions: Boston -Washington, DC– Chicago-Detroit-Pittsburgh– San Francisco-Los Angeles-San Diego– Montreal-Toronto-Windsor– Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach

• Europe:– London-20 m. in Metro area– Germany-Ruhr, Rhine zone of Dusseldorf-

Essen & Cologne– Poland-Saxony & Silesia– Also Moscow, St. Petersburg & Madrid-not

yet multi cities, but growing

• Asia-Tokyo-Yokohama, Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto

• Mega Cities:

• UN says by 2025 at least 15 cities will be over 20 million

– Many of the world’s most populous cities are found in the poorest nations-Mexico City, Shanghai, Calcutta, Mumbai & Cairo

– Close are Bangkok, Indonesia; Lima-Callao, Peru; Saigon-Cholon, Vietnam

– Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Shanghai will have over 30 million by 2025

Urban Problems

• Zoning laws are lacking in many poor countries

• Squatters occupy any open space on the outskirts of the city

• Sharp contrast between fancy hotels of downtown and slums on outskirts

Urban Function

• Every city or town has an economic base.

• Basic sector-workers who produce goods for export or local consumption

• Non Basic sector or Service sector-workers who maintain the city, work in offices and provide services for others

• The number of Non basic sector workers is always greater than Basic sector workers-as cities increase in size the ratio increases

• Most large cities have a ratio of 1 to 2

• Multiplier Effect-if a business adds 50 manufacturing jobs-another 100 non-basic workers will be added to the work force

Central Place Theory• Central Places-hierarchy is based on

population, function & services.• Economic reach-how functions & services

attract customers from areas beyond the urban limits.

• Centrality-the central position & ability to attract customers to a village, town or city.

• Range of Sale-the distance people are willing to travel to buy goods or services

Central Place Theory• Christaller tried to

determine the degree of centrality of various places.

• He created a model to show how central places in the urban hierarchy are spatially distributed.

• He assumed:

– No physical barriers

– Soil and surface of equal quality

– Even distribution of population

– Uniform transportation system

Hexagonal Hinterlands

C = city

T = town

V = village

H = hamlet

Functional Zonation

The division of the city into certain regions (zones) for certain purposes (functions).Cairo, Egypt

Central city (above)

Housing projects (right)

Problems in Urbanization

200 years ago only 5% of world was urbanizedToday about 50% is urbanGermany, Spain & Belgium are over 90% urbanWorld wide urban problems are:

pollutionpoor sanitationdrugs and crimecongestion and noisesubstandard housing & slums

Problems cont..• With urban sprawl

and expanding suburbs-inner city shrinks

• CBD is often reduced to serving just the inner metro area

• As basic sector jobs leave-large cities have shifted to service industries

• Loss of tax base as businesses, industries and services leave

• Urban decay results

New Urbanism

• Development, urban revitalization, and suburban reforms that create walkable neighborhoods with a diversity of housing and jobs.

• some are concerned over privatization of public spaces

– some are concerned that they do nothing to break down the social conditions that create social ills of the cities

– some believe they work against urban sprawl

Adopt locally appropriate plan

………..!

Thank you