Urban Life in the Distant Past

Name: Urban Life in the Distant Past
Price: 78 AUD
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ISBN: 9781009249003

The Prehistory of Energized Crowding

Michael E. Smith (Arizona State University)

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Paperback

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English

Cambridge University Press
22 August 2024

General & world history; European history; History of the Americas; Australasian & Pacific history; Archaeology by period & region

Series: Urban Archaeological Pasts

In this book, Michael Smith offers a comparative and interdisciplinary examination of ancient settlements and cities. Early cities varied considerably in their political and economic organization and dynamics. Smith here introduces a coherent approach to urbanism that is transdisciplinary in scope, scientific in epistemology, and anchored in the urban literature of the social sciences. His new insight is 'energized crowding,' a concept that captures the consequences of social interactions within the built environment resulting from increases in population size and density within settlements. Smith explores the implications of features such as empires, states, markets, households, and neighborhoods for urban life and society through case studies from around the world. Direct influences on urban life – as mediated by energized crowding-are organized into institutional (top-down forces) and generative (bottom-up processes). Smith's volume analyzes their similarities and differences with contemporary cities, and highlights the relevance of ancient cities for understanding urbanism and its challenges today.

By: Michael E. Smith (Arizona State University)
Imprint: Cambridge University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 254mm, Width: 178mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 633g
ISBN: 9781009249003
ISBN 10: 1009249002
Series: Urban Archaeological Pasts
Pages: 338
Publication Date: 22 August 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Michael Smith is Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. An archaeologist who has directed excavations at Aztec sites, he has forged a new approach to the scientific and comparative analysis of early cities based on transdisciplinary research projects that link ancient and contemporary urbanism. He has published fifteen books and more than 150 articles.

Reviews for Urban Life in the Distant Past: The Prehistory of Energized Crowding

'This book presents a wealth of information on early cities in a synthetic and comparative framework, analyzed with a consistent methodology that embraces clear definitions, quantification, and statistical analysis. For those reasons and others, scholars interested in early cities and urbanism will find the book to be essential reading, and it deserves a wide audience.' Michael W. Love, American Antiquity 'This volume challenges much of archaeology's deeply ingrained conventional wisdom concerning the origins and attributes of early urbanism … Readers will find much in this volume to be essential and, in fact, foundational to any study of urban development. Smith has laid out a truly thought-provoking and challenging manifesto that will be critical reading for students and scholars of urbanism and a key addition to their libraries.' Thomas E. Emerson, American Journal of Archaeology 'Smith has produced a thorough, well-illustrated culmination of his lifework whose topics will resonate with scholars and practitioners who care about and study cities. … Highly recommended.' M. T. Stark, CHOICE