Evolution of Town, Cities

and Urban
world perspective

Rajendra P Sharma
Social Anthropologist and Planner, Kathmandu, Nepal
rpsharma@mailcity.com
 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
 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)
 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
 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
 Attributes of Cities
• Centers of political • Cultural and Artistic
power pursuits
• Centers of industrial • Centers of education
power and research
• Centers of
technology • Entertainment of all
types
• A market place for
goods • Sports teams, arenas
and parks
• Specialization in
products and • 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
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
 Indus River Valley
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
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
 Nimes, France

Roman Roa
Roman Road construction
 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
 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
 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,
 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
 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
 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
• 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
 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
• 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
• 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
 Site and Situation

Site Situation
 absolute location of  relative location of
a city a city
 a city’s static  a city’s place in the
location, often region and the
chosen for trade, world around it.
defense, or
religion.
• 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
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, 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.
 Modern Urbanization
Highest 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-
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
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
• 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
 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
Hexagonal Hinterlands

C = city
T=
town
V=
village
 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 urbanized

Today about 50% is urban
Germany, Spain & Belgium are over 90%
urban
World wide urban problems are:
pollution
poor sanitation
drugs and crime
congestion and noise
 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
 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
Adopt locally appropriate
plan ………..!

Thank you