Urban revolution
The "urban revolution" refers to the significant transformation of human societies from rural lifestyles to urbanized living, primarily characterized by the development of cities. This process, also known as urbanization, involves enhancing infrastructure to support larger populations and complex social structures. The concept was notably advanced by Australian archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe in the early 20th century, who suggested that this shift began in prehistoric times when societies transitioned from hunting and gathering to farming. Early urban revolutions occurred in regions like the Middle East, where cities such as Eridu and Ur emerged in the fourth millennium BCE.
Childe identified key components essential for a community to be considered urban, including concentrated populations, governance, social stratification, trade networks, and cultural advancements. As agricultural techniques improved, surplus food allowed communities to grow, leading to the establishment of significant urban centers. This evolution continued into the modern era, with urbanization accelerating during events like the Industrial Revolution. In contemporary times, cities are focusing on sustainability, aiming to balance growth with environmental responsibility, ensuring their viability for future generations. The urban revolution highlights humanity's adaptability and the ongoing significance of cities in shaping cultural and social dynamics across the globe.
On this Page
Urban revolution
In anthropology, the study of human societies, an urban revolution refers to a civilization's shift from rural habitats to cities. The phenomenon is also known as urbanization, the process of building up a location's infrastructure to convert it into a city. Australian archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe developed the concept of urban revolution in the early twentieth century. He proposed that humanity's urban revolution occurred in prehistoric times, when people stopped hunting and gathering their food and began farming. Farm communities eventually led to the rise of cities and complex societies.
Humans settled different areas of the world at different times in history. The earliest urban revolutions took place in the Middle East, where some of the first human societies originated. People spread around the world over thousands of years, with most societies eventually undergoing their own urban revolutions by founding capitals and other large urban centers. In the twenty-first century, nearly every country in the world has at least one major city.
Background
Vere Gordon Childe, who lived from 1892 to 1957, was among the first archaeologists to construct a social history of early humans based on archaeological information. He theorized that prehistoric people transitioned into city dwellings only after living for thousands of years as hunter-gatherers and then farmers. Hunter-gatherers were nomads, people who traveled from place to place and had no permanent home. They acquired food by hunting and eating wild animals and gathering edible vegetation, such as fruit and nuts.
Childe contended that hunter-gatherers eventually learned how to farm, a skill that allowed them to settle together in one place and grow the materials they needed to survive. He called the human adoption of farming the Neolithic Revolution because it occurred during the Neolithic era that began around 11,000 or 10,000 BCE. Childe, and most archaeologists that followed him, believed people in the Near East regions of Iraq and Syria were the first to develop farming sometime between 11,000 and 9000 BCE. Human mastery of farming took thousands of years, but people ultimately learned how to breed livestock for food and grow crops such as wheat and barley. Farming requires a somewhat sedentary lifestyle, and Neolithic farmers later built stone houses for themselves and started living in small communities.
Childe believed people had begun farming and living together in the Neolithic era due to the ending of the last ice age around 10,000 BCE. Ice ages were periods in Earth's history when massive ice sheets called glaciers covered much of the planet. According to Childe, the melting of the glaciers at the end of the last ice age made Earth warm enough for people to begin growing crops successfully.
However, farming and sedentary lifestyles did not immediately lead to the rise of cities. Many Neolithic communities were simply small villages featuring clay huts with thatched roofs. The development of trade allowed people to acquire goods to which they otherwise would not have had access. Trading one's own possessions for food, clothing, and weapons from other villages helped people live more efficiently. This, combined with increased farming skill over thousands of years, allowed farming communities to grow significantly. The large agricultural societies later grew into cities.
Overview
Humanity's urban revolution began in ancient Mesopotamia, in present-day Iraq, in the fourth millennium BCE. People there started constructing urban centers that eventually encompassed the numerous villages and towns near them. The Sumerian cities of Eridu and Ur in Mesopotamia are believed to be among the oldest cities in the world, having been established early in the fourth millennium. More cities appeared in Mesopotamia, India, and China in the following centuries. Urbanization later spread to Europe.
Childe believed urbanization involved more than simply expanding the size of a town with additional buildings. He argued that the process consisted of small agricultural communities growing into complex civilizations with their own unique cultures.
Childe listed ten criteria he believed had to be present for ancient communities to be considered urban. He thought the communities had to have large, concentrated populations. A city in 3,000 BCE might have been considered large if it had a population consisting of tens of thousands of people. Childe believed urban societies also had to have government, tax systems, social classes, foreign trade networks, understanding of scientific concepts such as geometry and astronomy, craftspeople to make tools, a writing system, architecture, and artwork.
The high concentrations of people in early cities made all this possible. Farmers grew more food than a city's population needed, meaning the excess could be stored for the future. With this basic need met, the people could focus their attention on nonessential matters such as science, art, and religion. For instance, in the ancient Sumerian city of Ur in present-day Iraq, the Sumerians were able to devote enough workers to the construction of that city's now-famed ziggurat. Ziggurats were ancient Mesopotamian temples built as homes for the gods. Ziggurats were massive structures featuring terraced levels that formed pyramid shapes.
These trends appeared across ancient Mesopotamia. By the middle of the third millennium BCE, about 80 percent of people in southern Mesopotamia lived in cities. Mid-sized cities contained between twenty thousand and thirty thousand people. Large cities usually contained about fifty thousand people. Some cities eventually became powerful empires that went to war with foreign civilizations for control of their resources. Many more cities appeared in Asia, Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Australia into the modern era. Cities have modernized as part of their national societies since the initial urban revolution of about 4,000 BCE.
Countries in the modern era have experienced their own urban revolutions when masses of people suddenly move from the countryside to the cities. For instance, thousands of English people migrated to England's capital of London during the Industrial Revolution of the early nineteenth century. Better jobs, higher pay, and improved living conditions drew these people to London and other cities.
In the twenty-first century, cities can plan for their indefinite survival by becoming sustainable. Sustainable cities operate within their financial budgets and work to produce clean energy that can power the area's infrastructure without damaging the environment. Clean energy includes electric, solar, and wind power. Cities have survived as humans' signature kind of society for thousands of years partly due to this type of adaptability.
Bibliography
Balter, Michael. "The Seeds of Civilization." Smithsonian, May 2005, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-seeds-of-civilization-78015429/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
Chen, Mingxing, et al. "Identifying Interlinkages Between Urbanization and Sustainable Development Goals." Geography and Sustainability, vol. 3, no. 4, Dec. 2022, 229-46, doi.org/10.1016/j.geosus.2022.10.001. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
Compton, Nick. "What Is the Oldest City in the World?" Guardian, 16 Feb. 2015, www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/feb/16/whats-the-oldest-city-in-the-world. Accessed 3 Feb, 2025.
Pryor, Francis. "Overview: From Neolithic to Bronze Age, 8000–800 BC." BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british‗prehistory/overview‗british‗prehistory‗01.shtml. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
Smith, Michael E. "Childe, V. Gordon." Encyclopedia of Urban Studies, Volumes 1–2, edited by Ray Hutchison, SAGE Publications, Inc., 2010, pp. 130–31.
Tharoor, Kanishk. "The Rise and Fall of Great World Cities: 5,700 Years of Urbanization – Mapped." Guardian, 27 June 2016, www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jun/27/rise-fall-great-world-cities-5700-years-urbanisation-mapped. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
"Vere Gordon Childe (1892–1957)." BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic‗figures/childe‗gordon.shtml. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.
Zimmermann, Kim Ann. "Pleistocene Epoch: Facts about the Last Ice Age." Live Science, 29 Aug. 2017, www.livescience.com/40311-pleistocene-epoch.html. Accessed 3 Feb. 2025.