Understanding the city
The late American essayist, Henry David Thoreau once said that life in a city was nothing more than millions of people being lonesome together. A bleak and pessimistic view of cities in the least, the idea of the city was not initially to alienate one person from the next, but rather the opposite–to bring people with the similar goals of progress, communication and mutual exchange in one area wherein all could prosper.
Historians speculate that the first cities were brought together from the development of irrigation and advanced agricultural machines that enable surplus grains to be harvested with fewer peoples. These extra persons could now devote their mental talents to arts, writing, and other industries aside from harvesting and gathering food. As these systems became increasingly complex, so did the cities. heir population also thrived due to the efficiency inherent in the city structure and the subsequent defense they were able to offer other tribes who wanted to benefit and contribute to the city. Cities also economize on protection and the ability to defend their populations, a reason that further attracts outsiders to dwell in cities as opposed to more spread out and rural areas.
Other historians and social scientists also argue that it is the proximity that attracts people to cities. The closeness of buildings reduces the distances traveled and transportation costs, while the structure of a compact city makes for the easy
transfer of ideas, goods and even people. Sociologist Edward L. Glaeser argues he following:
“if you double a city size, workers have a ten percent increase in earnings…bigger cities don’t pay more for equal productivity in a smaller city, so it is reasonable then to assume that workers actually become more productive if you move them to a city twice the size than they initially worked in. However, the workers don’t really benefit from the ten percent wage increase because it is recycled back into the higher cost of living in a bigger city.”(Glaeser, 2001).
Bigger and more condensed cities lead to more ideas, goods, and people being pooled together to share, benefit and contribute into that arena of life. With this type of reasoning, who would not want to live in a cosmopolitan city? Indeed, it is reflective of even the modern societies of today that a vast majority of persons prefer to live in or near large cities for the very reasons they were created in the first place.
A city is defined differently depending on the country and historical background given. However it is safe to assume the following traits that band cities around the world together.
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