2021

REPORT ON THE EARLIEST FORMS OF

URBANIZATION

ARC 829- ADVANCED URBAN DESIGN

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

UMOREN, PRECIOUS ANIETIE

20PCA02161
URBANIZATION
Urbanization refers to the transformation of rural areas into cities or urban locations and through
extension, the development and enlargement of the cities. Urbanization symbolizes modernization
and the foremost urban cities developed separately in their different region of the world. There are
five world regions known as the hearth areas and are identified by the transition from game hunting
to production of agricultural foods. The hearth areas delivered the earliest proof of urbanization.

EARLIEST FORMS OF URBANIZATION

The evolution of urban areas began with the first urban revolution characterized by city, states and
urban empires identified as;

i. Mesopotamian Cities (Sumerians)

ii. Egyptian Cities
iii. The Indus Region
iv. China (The Yellow River)
v. Mesoamerica

Mesopotamian Cities

Urbanization started Mesopotamia around 4300-3100BCE in the middle east, the land between the
Tigris and Euphrates river valley. This land was the eastern region of the area known as Fertile
Crescent and thus are characterized by agricultural cultivating wheat and barley, rearing sheep and
goats. The cities are walled with population around 25000, with buildings made of dried or fired
mud bricks and wheeled vehicles for movement. This increase in size of the agricultural cities
created room for massive fortified city-states of the Sumerian Empire like Ur, Uruk, Eridu, and
Erbil all still found in modern Iraq. the configurations of the city, the safety and security of
residents, appears to have fascinated the inhabitants of the region to urban centers although the
theory has been suggested that the populace was forcibly removed from agricultural holdings and
re-located in the cities whose rulers then appropriated the lands for the state. This theory, however,
fails to account for the continuation of urbanization throughout the history of Mesopotamia or its
replication in other nations.

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Egyptian Cities

Following suite was Egypt largely influenced by the Sumerians. Urbanization started around
3300BC along the River Nile, although before 2000BC Egyptian Cities were relatively unknown.
In Egypt, new writing styles were developed like hieroglyphics that retained its pictographic
characters. Also, the Egyptians developed cursive and abridged forms of writing for practical
usage. In creating writing styles, they also created writing mediums papyrus scrolls. It is evident
that Egyptian cities and their writing stood the test of time when compared to Sumerian cities. The
Egyptian Cities had similar features with the Mesopotamian cities but were not walled and in size
were somewhat smaller.

The Indus Region

The next urbanization emerged around 2800 BC from the Indus Valley of India and present day
western Pakistan, also largely influenced by the Sumerian empire. They also developed a writing
system that was largely pictographic and yet to be deciphered. The Indus Region cities were the
first cities to depict evidence of planned development, characterized by straight roads that network
to form gridiron patterns, sewer system, waste collecting system, a western edge that acted as a
centre for religious, educational and political activities. The issue with the civilization is the fact
that it was short lived, flourishing between 2800-1500, it is unclear the reason for its disintegration
and no evidence supports an overthrow, but claims support that the Indus cities were vulnerable
and declining or even abandoned as a result of climatic changes.

China; The Yellow River

The Emergence of Chinese Cities was around 2000-1500 BC along the yellow river, this fourth
location of urbanization sprung up much later through the Shang Dynasty. Of all the pictographs
the Chinese Characters are the only ones utilized till date. The area where urbanization occurred
more in China was the Huang He Valley, where the climate was desert making living more difficult
compared to Yangtze Valley were it rained making living easier. This led to more development in
Huang as living successfully required a degree of organization and technological development.
also, the period of the Chinese civilization was in the age of religious innovation.

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Mesoamerican Civilization

The Mesoamerican civilization is the new world equivalent to the four old urban cities;
Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Region and China. The Olmec dates back to 1150 BC is the first great
Mesoamerican civilization, shaped by the tussle to control the limited farmland leading to a
dominant landowning class. The Maya people developed the Maya civilization within the
Mesoamerican cultural area, the cities were developed around 250- 900 AD with the most refined
script in pre-Columbian America. Their writing was not the only advanced aspect of the people
they also had sophisticated art forms. Around this period, large scale construction and urbanism,
with large cities having populations of about 50000-120000, connected to networks of secondary
sites.

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REFERENCES

Davíd Carrasco. "Mesoamerica: An Overview". In Davíd Carrasco (ed). The Oxford

Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures. Vol 2. New York: Oxford University Press,

2001. Pp 212 - 216 ISBN 9780195108156

TransAnatolie Tour. (1997). Earliest Civilizations. Retrieved from Anadolu TransAnatolie Tour

: https://www.transanatolie.com/English/Turkey/earliest_civilizations.htm

van der Veen, W. E. (2011, june ). BRIEF HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION AND URBANIZATION.

Retrieved from people okanagan :

https://people.okanagan.bc.ca/wvdveen/WILMA%20WEBPAGE/Urban_sociology/brief

_history_of_civilization.htm