THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENTS OF URBAN SETTLEMENTS
Dear colleagues and friends,
The article “Rethinking Jericho and the Birth of the World Earliest
Town”, in EXPRESSION 30 (December 2020), has awakened a debate on the
birth and development of urban settlements. Urbanization, as a human
trend, developed very late, just in the last 10,000 years, out of over
4 million years since the emergence of the Homo species. It marks a
turning point in human evolution. It seems that ants invented the
urban habitation pattern before our species.
Urban settlements are not a natural feature of our species, nor are
they, as often claimed, a direct outcome of sedentarization. From the
layers of human deposits, in caves and open-air sites, in Africa, Asia
and Europe, we know that human nuclear clans used to maintain fairly
permanent living sites in the last half a million years.
Large settlements, hosting over 1,000 people, are a new event in
cultural evolution, implying new ways of socio-political management
and new collective means of economic resources: they changed the very
core of social organization. One of the main implications is the need
of coordination as the fundamental role of leadership. Ever since,
leaders have played a vital role determining the success or failure of
settlements, human groups and even nations and civilizations.
Urbanization has changed the social structure and daily life of human
society. Understanding the collective, political and economic
implications of this relatively recent trend is a fundamental part of
research in the humanities. Urban centers have grown even in the most
unthinkable areas of the planet, among the sands of the Arabian
desert, in the heart of the Amazonian forest, or in the arctic frozen
lands of Siberia.
Ever since the birth of Jericho, the pattern of urban settlement has
expanded to constitute over three-quarters of the world’s population,
an increase that awakens divergent opinions. Is this a permanent
orientation leading to the globalization of an urban humanity, or can
we foresee an inversion of tendencies, a turning point in the opposite
direction? Could there be a loosening of the metropolis’s fatal
attraction and a change to going back to living in the countryside?
What factors may lead one way or the other?
The topic is worthy of study. Environmental conditions including
pollution and climatic changes, social relations, means of
communication, economic potential resources and other factors
influence development, which may vary, from Shanghai or New York, to
Cairo or Manaus, Doha or Brazzaville.
The first simple step is collecting data which are not very available.
Stories and histories about the birth and development of urban
settlements, beyond statistics, are elementary details. Facts acquire
a new dimension, when their specific roots and their dynamics are
considered. Knowledge goes one step further when it becomes
understanding.
Pertinent papers based on different disciplines are welcome and will
be published in EXPRESSION quarterly journal. Then they will make up
the object of a multidisciplinary international seminar and become a
basic book on the history of urbanization.
Archeologists studying ancient urban settlements can tell their
stories. Town-planners may present their views and theories.
Sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists can contribute to
encouraging an awareness of social, economic, health and psychic
influences on urban living.
How did a town come to life and develop? The reconstruction of the
event is a vital part of the history. One of the major quests of the
human mind is understanding, and one of the major concerns is
understanding ourselves, our roots, the how and why we became what we
are. Ever since the earliest evidence of intellectual reasoning, the
future has been considered to be more important than the past, but
without knowing the past we lack sound means to conceive of the
future.
Colleagues and friends with something to say are cordially invited to
join the debate. Contact Atelier research center at
<[log in to unmask]>, proposing your paper.
Cordial regards,
Alisa
Atelier Secretariat
Atelier
Research Center for Conceptual Anthropology
Città Della Cultura
Via Marconi 7, Capo di Ponte, 25044, Italy
phone +39 0364/42392
Website: www.atelier-etno.it
Facebook page: Atelier-Antropologia-e-Preistoria
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