Stages Of The Development Of Cities Throughout History
Change is a slow moving and gradual process. This is most certainly true pertaining to the creation, growth, and development of cities. The city evolved and urbanized over thousands of years, going through multiple phases of transformation spanning many periods throughout history. In the chapter Origins from the book The Medieval City by Norman Pounds, Pounds goes into great detail regarding the multiple stages of a city’s growth. These phases enable one to understand what a city is and what it became as time progressed. People established cities to fulfill various needs and functions, creating a stark contrast between the characteristics of a city in each stage as these necessities changed over time. Therefore, the vision of and need for a city during the Neolithic era differs greatly from that of a city during the Middle Ages. Due to this ever-changing ideal of a city, there is no simple explanation for its origin and development, making it quite difficult to know how and why a city was founded. However, it is quite clear that the creation and flourishment of cities had an immense impact on the course of history, both positively and negatively.
A city is a settlement whose inhabitants are not dependent on agriculture as a means of employment and survival. Meaning, there was a surplus of food which enabled humans to pursue other interests and occupations that helped establish various social classes, leading to the expansion and ever-growing complexity of a city. The combination of these aspects allowed for the formation of a culture unique to each city. Furthermore, any successful town had formed relationships not only with neighboring cities, but also with distant places leading to an increase in trade and commerce flowing in and out of the city walls. The creation of the city lead to civilization and urbanization that was a departure from the nomadic way of life that many hunter-and-gathering groups had lived beforehand. During the pre-historic era, the flourishment of cities was not instantaneous as nomadic groups had to choose between the mobility of their current way of living or the security a city provided. These two led to distinctly different ways of living, making the growth of cities slow-paced and gradual. This is understandable as any major change in one’s way of living requires time for adjustment. Eventually, most of these nomadic groups opted for the security a city insured and the number of wandering groups declined, leading into the first phase of city development.
From the Bronze Age to the Age of Iron, large areas encircled by either a bank or ditch were constructed. These areas, called hillforts, served as places of refuge during times of war, storage facilities for food, as well as places for people to come practice various forms of craftsmanship. Both rural and urban features were present, enabling hillforts to serve multiple purposes for those living around them until the founding of Greek cities, leading into the second phase of development.
The second phase of city expansion began during the reign of Classical Greece and spread throughout Europe to Rome, Spain, Italy and England. The founding of the Greek polis, a town in which its’ inhabitants gathered together their resources to form an urban community in which people took great pride, replaced hillforts as more people began to acknowledge the benefits that cities offered. People became so drawn to the idea of cities that Aristotle exclaimed, “urban living was the natural way of life for civilized human beings. ” This is interesting as it was people who established cities and thus led to the creation of civilization, yet now it is the cities that determine whether one is to be considered civilized. When the Roman Empire grew, the concept of the urbanized city spread further as the Romans conquered more land. During the period of time known as ‘Pax Romana’, more cities evolved since Romans viewed them as a tool of civilization, similar to the belief of Aristotle. With the fall of the Roman Empire due to barbaric invasions, the roads connecting cities became unsafe to travel, leading to a decline in trade and commerce which are crucial to the success of any city. While not all Roman cities disappeared after the fall of the Roman Empire, their commercial ties and trading abilities were completely destroyed, leading to a shift in the outlook of those who remained in cities. Instead of focusing on culture, which by definition are those things that are not needed to live, people had to focus solely on the struggle to survive. Therefore, there was a decline in the production of art, literature, and architecture leading into the third phase of city development and one of the darker periods in history.
During the Middle Ages, city growth was stunted as the focus at the beginning of the medieval era was not on creating flourishing and successful cities, but solely on staying alive. In a way, cities regressed as many aspects that made up a civilization became nonexistent, leading to the disappearance of culture of any kind. Society was organized in a feudal system which included rigid social structures and the promise of protection in exchange for service. Kings would provide land to a lord in exchange for loyalty and the lord would provide land and protection to people in exchange for service. These people, or serfs, were practically servants of the feudal lord as they were paid barely enough to survive and had no other means of making a livelihood. It is quite interesting to note that it is these peasants and serfs who end up bringing about the downfall of the feudal system with the restoration of thriving cities in the High Middle Ages. While life in the Early Middle Ages was extremely difficult and unpredictable, the 12th century brought about the improvement of living conditions due to the Crusades.
The Crusades were the spark needed to ignite the resurgence of medieval cities and commerce. The knights of the Crusades provided protection along trade routes, making them safe to travel. The knights and their cohorts also boosted commerce as their needs were taken care of by traders and merchants they encountered upon their travels. Secondly, when the knights returned from their excursions, they would bring back new ideas and technology from the East. By the 13th century, trade increased immensely and people no longer had to be self-sufficient as they had been previously. The breakage from the feudal system led to the reestablishment of urbanization, trade routes, commerce and civilization. The decline in the feudal system most certainly was directly correlated to the regrowth of cities as serfs and peasants made up a large majority of these medieval cities. “The air of the town makes you free. ” Even though the serfs still had to work, the lord has no jurisdiction over the cities so they were no longer bound to a lord, making them free. Therefore, the cities of the High Middle Ages grew to be prosperous and numerous and these cities set the stage for the modern city we have today.
The fourth and final stage of city development throughout history occurred during the 18th century around the time of the Industrial Revolution. It was not the creation of new cities that defined this stage, but rather the industrialization of the cities which already existed. These industrialized cities reached their pinnacle during the 19th century as they become the world dominating powers. While the progression of what cities were and what they eventually became is seen and understood through the four phases of development, how and why cities were created, particularly after the Early Dark Ages during the rebirth of urbanized cities, is less clear. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “the city is recruited from the country. ” It is hard to grasp how low classes of peasants and serfs were able to create thriving cities and communities, even with the help that the Crusades unintentionally provided. After the fall of the Roman Empire, some cities survived and new ones emerged in response to trade and in response to the need for defense against barbaric groups. These cities did not subscribe to the feudal system as they existed before its’ creation. Even though these cities had nothing to do with the feudal system as they were far removed from it, the lords believed they posed a threat to feudal society. The lords’ concern and struggle to maintain power is clear otherwise they would not worry about these cities.
Therefore, feudal lords tried to absorb these cities into feudalism through liberty charters. Under these charters, these towns would have a limited autonomy while simultaneously being financially beneficial for the lord. While the usage of charters was not particularly successful, this was one way cities came to be during the Middle Ages outside the feudal system. Once feudal lords realized that there was financial profit to gain from the production of cities, they created urbanized areas even though it was a risk to their authority. These cities that were deliberately created by feudal lords were called planted cities. In order to populate these cities, the lords bribed people to settle and cultivate the land in exchange for a portion of it, proper living conditions as well as freedom which was absent from the feudal lifestyle. Each of these planted cities had a marketplace which became its’ central point as all roads would lead there. These marketplaces aided the boom in trade and commerce that led to the creation of the mercantile class. While the feudal lords may have benefitted from these cities, they were also setting up their demise as it was these mercantile cities and the working class within them that brought about the end of feudalism.
The impact of cities, particularly those set up during the medieval era, no doubt contributed greatly to the development of western civilization. While cities were instrumental in the advancement of technology, they caused other problems also. The size of cities grew so rapidly that there were not sufficient amounts of supplies such as food, water and fuel for everyone. The cities became so populated and congested that people practically lived on top of one another, leading to the spread of disease. Initially, cities had no proper sewage disposal systems so cities became dirty and unsanitary which also led to disease. Even though cities solved many problems, they caused plenty too. The city is one of the greatest and most important human innovations in history. From cities stems urbanization, civilization, culture, trade and progress. Without the formation of the city, history may have taken a completely different course of action.
The functions and needs of the cities changed constantly, making it impossible to simply have one answer as to what defines a city. This also makes it hard to explain how or why cities were founded as it is completely dependent on the time period in history. Although cities greatly impacted the world positively, it did so also negatively and while this does not take away from the significance of the city’s inception, it is important to acknowledge both the good and the bad. Change is a slow moving and gradual process. Look no further for a better example than that of the development of the city.
