for a specialism driven by the need to employ citizens and keep the ecosystem in balance. Cotton spinners in Manchester were the origins of the Industrial Revolution, ship builders in Glasgow were the centre of global shipbuilding, electrical workers in Berlin, and car makers in Detroit – all defined these cities. None of these cities were perfect, and the average citizen complained about crime, pollution, and a myriad of other displeasures, but they were thriving, on balance, for most citizens were happy to accept the dis-benefits for the wider opportunities the city offered.
It is at this juncture that the power of urban planning and reform would allow the innovative use of resources to improve the lives of those enjoying the booming city opportunities – perhaps it was simply cleaning up the mess of what historically cities have been for centuries – wasteful. The diversity of which cities have chosen to embrace different forms of urbanism is a direct result of the very people these cities attracted to live and work there.
The synthesis of art and technology needs to overcome the issues created by contemporary urbanism; traffic congestion, toxic air pollution, unprecedented rates of urbanization, and the widening wealth gap and inequalities that exist are the wicked problems of our time, perceivably unsolvable issues that we have come to simply accept, or at least try to manage and accept. Cities will find innovative solutions to these problems because they contain the talent and governance to do so, and they are agile enough to make changes that deliver incremental improvement to the lives of all citizens. Cities are embracing the business community through private–public partnerships which now entwine urban planning with the uncertainty of politics, the economy, and business cycles. They are embracing these new ways of operating in order to maintain control over the cities’ finely balanced ecosystem as new businesses come and disrupt traditional operations, offering new benefits to citizens but worsening other aspects of urban life in the process. How does the city account for these negative externalities? It builds a new ecosystem of partners and welcomes them to their city!
Why does this give us cause for hope in the fight against climate change? The answer is simple. The impacts are real and are making changes today that are upsetting the finely balanced ecosystem. Cities are having to react through the same innovative and creative approaches they have achieved for centuries – that bring the partners, finance, technology, and new ways of operating together into solutions that work. We must scale these solutions and provide them with context to allow dissemination, replication, and implementation across the planet.
As Jane Jacobs3 said, the success of cities is security and safety; it is identifiable specialism and it is continual reinvention. With those in mind, I have selected a collection of cities and events through time – a set of cities, each with a lesson to share. It is these lessons that have shaped the modern city. The examples are Uruk, Mesopotamia, Memphis (Ancient Egypt), Rome, Venice, 1665 London, Jerusalem, modern-day London, the “eco-cities”, and Christchurch, New Zealand.
Uruk
The Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2150–1400 BCE) stands as the oldest piece of epic world literature.4 This great Sumerian poetic work pre-dates Homer’s writing by 1,500 years and tells the story of Gilgamesh the semi-mythic King of Uruk in Mesopotamia and his quest for immortality. The hero, King Gilgamesh, leaves his Kingdom following the death of his best friend to find the mystical figure Utknapishtim and gain eternal life. It becomes clear throughout the tale that Gilgamesh’s fear of death is actually a fear of meaninglessness, and, although he fails to win immortality by the end of the tale, it is the quest itself that ultimately gives meaning to his life.
From antiquity to the present day, we have come to know this seemingly immortal theme well, its influences refracted across literature and drama whether it be Homer, Dante, John Milton, Ovid, James Joyce, or the Marvel universe! There is a reason this theme has had such wide-reaching consequences. There is something profoundly hopeful about it. Gilgamesh is defined by the pursuit of the unknown, and his bravery to face that which he did not understand and to believe in a better outcome. All of this is reflected in the extraordinary city he ruled over.
Uruk accounts for a number of the world’s firsts in the development of civilization. Among these are the origins of writing, the first example of architectural work in stone, the building of great stone structures such as ziggurat, and the development of cylinder seal.5 Most importantly, however, it is immortal in our minds because it is considered to be the first true city in the world. According to the Sumerian King List, it was founded by King Enmerkar at around 4500 BCE and was located in the southern region of Suler (modern-day Iraq).6 It began as two separate settlements, Kullaba and Eanna, which merged together to form a town covering 80 hectares; at the height of its development in the Early Dynastic period, the city walls were 9.5 km long, enclosing a massive 450 hectares, and may have housed up to 50,000 people.7
This population grouping was a major step forward for civilization and, technically, the very first instance of “urban development” we have on record. From two distinct settlements, construction, pooling resources, city planning, merging different peoples and doubling its population size, creating clear boundaries, and a lot of imagination, a city was born. It is no accident that Uruk was also the first city to develop cylinder seal, which the ancient Mesopotamians used to designate personal property or a signature on documents, clearly meeting the need for the importance of the individual in the collective community. We can all imagine the problems they faced that would call for such an innovation.
Uruk was a successful city also in that it was continuously inhabited from its founding until c. 300 CE when people began to desert the area. It clearly met the demands of its citizens for thousands of years, and although it took many hundreds of years after this for it to be excavated, Uruk has remained an immortal city in our minds. Uruk is a lesson in innovation and imagination.
Mesopotamia
By 3500 BCE, big cities were on the rise in Mesopotamia, and following on from Uruk we can look at some of the other specific challenges cities in this region faced and the innovation and urban technology they inspired.
The growth in population and city size created the same problems then that they do today, with excess garbage, human waste, and its accumulation. In smaller villages people would simply carry their waste to the edge of the village and leave it there. But with ever-expanding city walls and greater population density this became difficult, and by 2900 BCE this collective need led to the invention of individual deep-pit toilets, and by 2500 BCE there is even evidence of a bathroom at the site of Tello.8
Unfortunately, we are still struggling to transfer urban technology to underdeveloped rural areas today.
With a city and the increase in population there are a lot of people, mainly women and children, needing food and work. Mesopotamia recognized this and created a job market. This included standardization of the industries of pottery and thread-making, which up until then had been made individually with fine detail. By 3500 BCE, they were mass produced to a poor quality in what some records show as industrial-weaving factories that paid its workers in food and clothing. As is still true today, women were paid less than men.
Nonetheless, these advancements show a real ability to meet the new urban demands and ingenious industry development (Figure 2.3). Another fascinating example is found in Uruk, at around 3200 BCE, when a large religious complex was designed and took 100 years to be built, but once it was built it was immediately flattened and rebuilt.9 There is no reason for this at all, so it seems that this unorthodox project was inspired by the government in an attempt to keep the city at full employment by providing 200 years of work. The government’s dedication to its people’s wellbeing is admirable in this sense. Mesopotamia is a lesson in providing its people with both convenience and opportunity.
