Urbanization: From Ancient Cities to Modern Megacities
Urbanization Process
The Birth of the First Cities
The discovery of agriculture and stock breeding took place in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago. That is why people became sedentary and built villages, generally located next to rivers (Tigris, Euphrates, or Nile, for example). The first cities (Jericho?) appeared around 6,500 – 7,000 years ago when those villages grew and got to have hundreds of inhabitants, becoming small cities. These cities were encircled by walls.
Ancient City
The cities had several functions: administrative (palace), religious (temple), defensive (walls), trade (markets), and housing (houses made of adobe, wood…). City planning appeared in Ancient Greece. Hypodamos of Mileto planned the city of Mileto using a regular street plan. The new settlements were carefully planned and were formed by straight and wide streets which formed a regular plan in square blocks. Life in the city was organized around two main centers: the agora (big public square) and the acropolis (high and walled area where the temples and other important buildings were located). Towns and cities were very important in Ancient Rome. Almost all Roman cities followed the same rules of town planning. There were two main streets, the cardus (from north to south) and the decumanus (from east to west). The forum (main square where the most important buildings were located) was placed at the intersection of these two streets. Romans were gorgeous engineers and built a lot of public works such as roads, bridges, aqueducts…). They were also good at building commemorative monuments (triumphal arches and columns) and leisure buildings (theaters, circuses, amphitheaters, thermal baths…).
Medieval City
Firstly, we must distinguish between the Islamic city and the Christian city. Both of them have in common an irregular plan, with narrow and short streets and alleys. Most of the Islamic population lived in cities. The center of the Islamic city was the medina, where the most important buildings were located (the souk –market-, the great mosque (called aljama), the alcazar –castle-, the ammam –public baths-). The most important cities were Cordoba (the most populated city in Europe, with more than 10,000 people in the 10th century), Baghdad (the most populated Islamic city), and Damascus. Talking about the Christian ones, we must say that between the 11th and the 13th centuries, Europe witnessed the rebirth of cities. Cities had several functions: religious, political, economic… They were surrounded by walls and the streets were narrow and tortuous. The most important part of the cities was the Main Square where the City Hall and, sometimes, the Cathedral were situated.
Modern City
New cities were designed during the Renaissance (15th and 16th centuries) based on regular and ideal plans (such as Palmanova). Older cities, such as Rome or Venice, were redesigned and remodeled making them more spectacular and amazing. Enormous improvements were made during the Baroque (17th and 18th centuries). The kings and queens wanted to show their unlimited powers, building palaces, gardens, main squares… We can see it in places like Rome (Navona Square), Versailles (Palace and gardens), Salamanca (Main Square) or Aranjuez (Royal sites). Besides, during the Modern Age Spanish and Portuguese founded lots of cities in South and Central America following the model used in the metropolis. Between 1492 and 1630 the Spanish founded 295 cities there. Among these cities, we must name Buenos Aires or Caracas.
The Current City
Nowadays, we are living in a world of cities. Most of the people (+ – 70%) are living in cities or towns in the developed countries and the urban population is growing at a high rate all over the world. In 1960 just 2 cities (New York and Tokyo) had more than 10 million inhabitants. In 2005, there were 17 large cities (13 of them in MEDCs) such as Tokyo, Mexico City, New York, or Bombay. In these days we can find new kinds of cities:
- Metropolis: They are large cities that control and organize a surrounding area called metropolitan area whose inhabitants may work in the metropolis and sleep in the satellite towns. For example, Madrid and Barcelona are Spanish metropolises that organize a surrounding metropolitan area with lots of satellite cities: Alcalá de Henares, Alcorcón, Móstoles, Getafe, Fuenlabrada… in Madrid and Hospitalet de Llobregat, Badalona, Manresa, Santa Coloma de Gramanet or Mataró in Barcelona.
- Conurbations: A conurbation is an urban area comprising a number of cities, towns, and villages which, through population growth and expansion, have physically joined to form one continuous urban area. The Randstad, which is a densely populated area in the Netherlands consisting of the four biggest cities of the country (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, with a total population of 7, 5 million of inhabitants) and several smaller cities, towns, and urbanized villages is an appropriate example of a conurbation.
- Megalopolis (or megacities): A megalopolis is defined as a long chain of continuous metropolitan areas with a total population of more than 10 million people. Examples of megalopolises are:
- The BosWash or the Northeast Corridor, in the USA including the metropolitan areas of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C. and other cities (45 million).
- ChiPitts, in the USA, too, including the cities of Milwaukee, Chicago-Indianapolis, Detroit. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Toronto… and others, covering portions of 7 US states and southern part of Ontario province (54 million).
Main Urban Problems
- High land values: To buy a flat is really expensive and a lot of people cannot afford to buy one because of the high prices.
- Lack of jobs (in some cases): Some cities that have had in the past successful industries that have closed, have high rates of unemployment.
- Low paid jobs: These kinds of jobs are usual in the cities: temporary and badly paid.
- Crime: Caused by poverty and inequality. Crime makes some cities an insecure place (burglars are usual in the suburbs).
- Vandalism: Destruction of private and public property, riots…
- Overcrowding: Difficult living conditions. It is caused by the lack of money (some immigrants, poor people…).
- Extreme poverty: Homeless living in the street, slums or shanty towns, inequality, social problems…
- Dirtiness: Caused by people that leave rubbish and other things (such as electrical appliances) in the street and by problems with litter and waste collection, caused by graffiti.
- Traffic jams: They are a waste of time and a waste of oil, Pollution (air & noise pollution).
- Pollution:
- Air pollution: Caused by: cars, factories, and heating systems. It is causing global warming.
- Noise pollution: Caused by: cars, people, discos, pubs, festivities…
Practice
Some solutions for these problems:
- To avoid:
- Traffic jams
- Unaffordable flats
- Air pollution
- Noise pollution
- Crime & vandalism
- Dirtiness