Think About…

• Why did people first start living in cities?

The Origins of Cities

Look at Me. I’m a Subtitle Put Here for Your Amusement!

Agricultural Revolution

• Around 10-12,000 years ago, people began to stay in one place

• Agriculture begins to replace hunter-gatherer activity as way of life

• Agricultural Village – everyone is a farmer

Agricultural Surplus

• Eventually, farming techniques resulted in an agricultural surplus– People able to do more than subsist

• Art• Religion• War

• Social stratification leads to less egalitarian society– Cities are born: urbanization

Critical Thinking

• Where were the first hearths of urbanization?

Urban Hearths

Roles of Ancient Cities

• Administrative• Military• Religious• Trade• Manufacturing

Ancient Civilizations

The Classical World

Industrial Revolution

• Manufacturing becomes key

• City population grows dramatically

• Cities become (even more) terrible places to live

Models of Urban Distribution and Location

Rank-Size Rule

• Ideal urban system

• Population of a city is inversely proportional to it’s rank in the hierarchy

• 1/R x Population of Largest City• R = rank

Major US Cities

1 New York City New York 8,391,881

2 Los Angeles California 3,831,868

3 Chicago Illinois 2,851,268

4 Houston Texas 2,257,926

5 Phoenix Arizona 1,593,659

6 Philadelphia Pennsylvania 1,547,297

7 San Antonio Texas 1,373,668

8 San Diego California 1,306,300

9 Dallas Texas 1,299,542

10 San Jose California 964,695

Does the Rank-Size Rule Hold?

1 New York City New York 8,391,881

2 Los Angeles California 3,831,868 .47

3 Chicago Illinois 2,851,268 .35

4 Houston Texas 2,257,926 .26

5 Phoenix Arizona 1,593,659 .18

6 Philadelphia Pennsylvania 1,547,297

7 San Antonio Texas 1,373,668

8 San Diego California 1,306,300

9 Dallas Texas 1,299,542

10 San Jose California 964,695 .11

Rank-Size Rule

• Seems to hold true for mature urban systems (like the United States)

• Does not hold true for many developing countries– Primate city