Cities through the Ages: One Thing or Many?

If we consider cities from ancient Ur to modern Vancouver, how much variation do we find? Is there one basic type of city with many different historical manifestations? Or perhaps ancient and modern cities are fundamentally different. What about future cities: Will they be similar or different from what we have now?

Michael Smith argues that there are two answers to the question of “one thing or many” for cities across history. From the perspective of how cities operate as economic and political centres in their society, ancient cities differed greatly from those of today. However, from the perspective of how people use cities—the ways individuals and families interact socially in an urban built environment—then all cities are basically the same.