Definition: Urbanism is the word used by archaeologists to describe the process that drives people to live in cities. Cities are defined by their size (generally greater than 5,000 people), and the existence of a series of complexity traits, including such things as a central administration or government, and the segregation of people by class and/or occupation.
We assume, but don't really have a way of knowing, that people congregated together for protection, or to facilitate public projects like irrigation systems or the construction of large buildings. Living in clumps has problems that must be resolved for cities to continue, including the transport of food produced elsewhere into the city limits, and rubbish and sanitation transported outside.
A useful summary of urbanism and recent trends in the global study may be found in archaeologist George Cowgill's article listed below.
We assume, but don't really have a way of knowing, that people congregated together for protection, or to facilitate public projects like irrigation systems or the construction of large buildings. Living in clumps has problems that must be resolved for cities to continue, including the transport of food produced elsewhere into the city limits, and rubbish and sanitation transported outside.
A useful summary of urbanism and recent trends in the global study may be found in archaeologist George Cowgill's article listed below.
Sources
Cowgill, George 2004 Origins and Development of Urbanism: Archaeological Perspectives. Annual Review of Anthropology 33:525-549.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
