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to completely transform the landscape before we delve into this question we need to think about what a city is and where it comes from history of the city cities have evolved from small permanent settlements to massive human created landscapes that house large and densely packed populations as gordon childe argued childe 1950 the city is a revolution they represent revolutions of technology governance economics and our relationship with nature and place nothing like cities existed in all of human history until about 9 10 thousand years ago when the first known large settlements appeared near the shores of the mediterranean sea these were jericho in what is today the west bank and catal huyuk in turkey these cities housed somewhere between 2 and 6 thousand people to understand the origins of the city we need to look to the birth of the major civilizations and to find these we need to go to the banks of the major rivers of the middle east and asia the nile ganges tigris euphrates indus yangtze and yellow rivers were the cradles fostering the birth of cities just like a germinating seed cities required water to grow the rivers were the lifeblood of these new forms of civilization and was essential for the irrigated agriculture that fed populations a supply of drinking water and for construction a means for moving waste away from human populations and were the express highways of the day moving people and goods these first major cities were home to several thousand people certainly less than ten thousand living in loosely organized communal areas and though these do not seem like cities by today s criteria they were massive by the standards of the day pre agrarian societies supported population densities of about 0 04 people per square kilometre and early agrarian societies which gave rise to the first permanent settlements had between 1 and 5 people per square kilometre cities today have densities of hundreds or thousands of people per square kilometre the shift from nomadic cultures to agricultural ones was the necessary development for cities to emerge having a permanent source of food drastically changed how people spend their time and allowed them to produce more food than they could personally eat sounds trivial but this new reality allowed for specialized occupations that were not focused on finding and gathering food the farmer produces the food while others pursue their own vocational callings like carpenter artisan priest and so on with new occupations involving training and expertise innovation and technological development ensued metal workers tested new methods and alloys farmers found ways to increase yield and the priests and elites organized people and resources by this point cities were all but inevitable as different cultures shared information and technology small cities began to emerge along the great rivers of the world these rivers all supported the eventual growth of large cities of ten thousand or more people by about 5 thousand years ago but the rivers also needed to be controlled while they were an invaluable resource they could also be unpredictable and devastating the ancient city of petra in modern jordan was a thriving capital city between 300 bc and 300 ad but it was subject to floods after heavy storms and the petroneans built damns and culverts to reduce flooding this was not unique to petra many ancient city archaeological sites include evidence of engineered structures designed to control flooding cities also required governance ten thousand people living together would be chaotic if there wasn t some sort of government in place to create and enforce rules for these early cities this governance was intertwined with religion temples were the centre of these early cities and provided guidance worship laws education and were the focal points for political power people no longer relied solely on family or clan allegiance but were increasingly tied to loyalties to king high priest and nation state these power structures were important for organizing people and pooling efforts and creativity into larger and larger projects while promising protection from other nation states which were also increasing in power the emergence of cities was a slow evolution from small permanent settlements to large centrally governed and densely populated ones it is hard for scholars to say with certainty when the first city appeared because both the evidence has been washed away by time and it is not entirely clear what a city is for ancient settlements we can say that the designation as a city corresponds to certain features that are necessary to successfully house thousands of people in a small area these would include sturdy streets capable of sustaining constant use dense and organized housing central governance and control of law enforcement taxation to pay for services and common good building projects e g aqueducts city walls etc specialized occupations and trades that provide expertise in various elements of culture governance and construction of cities e g engineers teachers etc markets allowing specialized occupations to trade goods and services because blacksmiths do not grow much food and farmers make few metal objects and finally cities have large and permanent impacts on local environments let us paint a picture of an early city by looking at the largest city in the world during the 11 th century kaifeng china historically called daliang or bianjing kaifeng was the capital of the song dynasty 960 1279 and at the height of its glory it was home to somewhere between six hundred thousand and one million people we actually know a lot about kaifeng china is the oldest continuous civilization on earth and has tremendous collections of historical documents further kaifeng is still a major city today with a population of about five million people a medium sized city by chinese standards but a very large one by standards elsewhere most importantly one of china s most cherished historical artifacts is a giant scroll measuring 5 25 meters or over 17 feet long called alongthe river during the qingming festival and it beautifully depicts kaifeng life during a national holiday a small segment of the painting along the river during the qingming festival painted by zhang zeduan 1085 1145 it depicts city life in kaifeng china at the height of its prestige when it was the capital city and the largest city in the world from this beautiful illustration you can see the elements of what it means to be a city first there are lots of people milling around and participating in different activities there is trade we see people moving goods in carts and on camels there are specialized occupations notice the tea houses and restaurants there is organised building construction lining a major road we see the overwhelming evidence of codified economics as people are buying goods and exchanging money and gambling and with economics we see class inequalities as the lady pulls aside the silk curtains and looks out of the litter or shoulder carriage being carried by porters there is a city gate protecting the population and regulating and taxing the flow of goods if we move along the scroll we would see the yellow river and the docks and ships necessary to move people and goods over great distances looking at the amazingly detailed depictions in the scroll we can almost smell the odours and aromas and hear the sounds that permeate through a dense city horses neighing dogs barking people shouting and dishes clanging this was a city by any definition so was kaifeng greener than modern beijing obviously kaifeng if it existed today would be a greener city than beijing modern beijing or any other megalopolis is defined by a massive concentration of material and energy that results in a concrete landscape capable of housing millions of people keifeng simply had less impervious surface and more space for nature so the short answer is yes ancient cities were physically greener but if we think of green as being a philosophy or approach that directs how we interact with nature then i don t think we can say that ancient cities were greener humans have created cities precisely to alter local environments to better suit our needs a city is the embodiment of our innate desire to increase our own fitness by removing threats from predators and other people creating security through strength in numbers and reducing environment unpredictability we might want to romanticize early human relationships with nature but the reality is that once technologies were created that advance urbanization they were implemented and spread rapidly being susceptible to flooding early cities channelized rivers once they were able to in response to threats from other groups of people cities around the world accepted being encased in walls as the technologies emerged the history of cities can be seen as a continuum from small and low impact settlements to large urbanized landscapes like tokyo what drives a smaller and greener city towards being a megalopolis so long as the population demand is there and the technologies to build a city exist the megalopolis is all but inevitable unlike previous generations we are in a unique position to ask the question what do we want a city to look like most of the technological hurdles that would limit urbanization have been overcome we now have the conceivable ability to create a completely urbanized planet like coruscant from star wars but most people would think that this is a bad idea but is barely constrained sprawl around urban centres like los angeles mexico city delhi and toronto not a microcosm for these urbanizing forces that we think are ultimately undesirable the point is that neither in ancient times nor now do people have an agreed upon vision of urbanization s endpoint urbanization has been and is driven by the mix of demand and technology but we now need more than ever an agreed upon vision and set of principles directing urbanization we need cities that minimize environmental impact reduce the effects of inequality and ensure people realize the potential benefits of green space so were ancient cities greener than cites today yes and no while they had less impact on their local environments the megalopolises of today were written into their dna the devaluation of nature has always been a defining feature of cities now more than ever we need to rethink the relationship between the city and nature and rewrite what is coded in a city s dna childe v g 1950 the urban revolution town planning review vol 21 pg 3 17 posted by marc cadotte at 9 09 2022 11 13 00 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels china environment history thinking about cities urban urbanization sunday march 20 2022 avoiding scientific mccarthyism reversing the recent call to punish russian scientists a recent call for punishing individual russian scientists instead of institutions and political power holders is a wrong headed and mean spirited response to the atrocities of the russian war on ukraine russia s illegal war against ukraine is an abomination of any ethical or moral norm and russia deserves to be held accountable and liable for the resulting humanitarian and economic costs one powerfully employed punishment has been severe and expansive sanctions meant to ply direct pressure on russia s economic and political elite a group of scientists have published an open letter in nature and are requesting signatories for a call to end scientific cooperation with russian scientists this appeal requests that international funders publishers societies and individual scientists should immediately endeavour 1 to block access to all scientometric databases and materials of scientific publishers for citizens and institutions of the russian federation and belarus 2 to make it impossible for researchers affiliated with institutions and scientific institutions of the russian federation and belarus to participate in international grant programs funded by the european union and other partners 3 to suspend participation of researchers students and institutions from the russian federation and belarus in current international academic mobility programs 4 to boycott attempts at holding scientific events on the territory of the russian federation and belarus in particular scientific conferences symposiums etc 5 to suspend indexing of scientific materials published in the russian federation and belarus in all scientometric databases 6 to prohibit citizens of the russian federation and belarus from being editors co editors reviewers of international publications to be clear these actions will do harm and are unlikely to effect change in russian policy these measures are meant to be punitive only number 4 on the list above makes sense i have russian scientific collaborators and i have been in contact with them they use subtle language to communicate their disagreement with russia s war and that they hope for an end to it they write e mails as if someone is watching because someone is watching the political climate in russia is one that is extremely dangerous for internationally connected russians and for those who do not agree with or support putin putin recently opined that russia needed a cleansing and traitors to be spit out like flies countless russians died in previous political cleansings to demand that scientists renounce the russian war in order to participate in global funding and information exchange as the appeal does is oblivious to the risks individuals face in russia for expressing views that counter political decrees this appeal comes across as insensitive and quite frankly ignorant as an editor of a journal i strive to ensure that information is disseminated broadly and that we are as inclusive as possible by assembling diverse teams of editors as the head of a lab i endeavour to provide opportunities to a diverse group of students and researchers i have supported and worked with students and researchers from many countries including some from countries controlled by repressive and authoritarian regimes i prioritize these types of engagement because i believe that this promotes global inclusion and expands the worldviews of people that can help turn the political tide in their own countries or to provide leadership when dictators finally fall what should we be doing as scientists we should support ukraine and ukrainians and we should pressure our own governments to do more including creating a no fly zone in ukraine further we should maintain our ties to those inside of russia and keep the lines of communication open and let those who are disheartened by what their country is doing that they are still part of the wider world these international ties might be important for what comes next in russia posted by marc cadotte at 3 20 2022 04 01 00 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to 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