The City: A Global History (Modern Library Chronicles Series Book 21) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Praise

  Modern Library Chronicles

  CHRONOLOGY

  PREFACE

  INTRODUCTION: - PLACES SACRED, SAFE, AND BUSY

  PART ONE - ORIGINS: THE RISE OF CITIES IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT

  CHAPTER ONE - SACRED ORIGINS

  MESOPOTAMIA

  EGYPT

  INDIA AND CHINA

  THE AMERICAS

  CHAPTER TWO - PROJECTIONS OF POWER— THE RISE OF THE IMPERIAL CITY

  SARGON: THE CREATOR OF THE IMPERIAL CITY

  BABYLON: THE FIRST URBAN COLOSSUS

  SECURITY AND URBAN COLLAPSE

  CHINA: THE ENDURING URBAN ORDER

  CHAPTER THREE - THE FIRST COMMERCIAL CAPITALS

  THE RISE OF PHOENICIA

  “WHOSE MERCHANTS ARE PRINCES”

  THE ROOTS OF PHOENICIAN DECLINE

  PART TWO - CLASSICAL CITIES IN EUROPE

  CHAPTER FOUR - THE GREEK ACHIEVEMENT

  CRETE

  MYCENAE: GREEK PRECURSOR

  THE CLASSICAL POLIS

  THE GREEK DIASPORA

  THE TWILIGHT OF THE CITY-STATES

  ALEXANDER AND THE HELLENISTIC CITY

  ALEXANDRIA: THE FIRST GREAT COSMOPOLIS

  UNRAVELING OF ALEXANDER’S VISION

  CHAPTER FIVE - ROME—THE FIRST MEGACITY

  “THE VICTORIOUS ROMANS”

  THE MAKING OF THE IMPERIAL CITY

  ROME: THE ARCHETYPAL MEGACITY

  “A CONFEDERATION OF URBAN CELLS”

  CHAPTER SIX - THE ECLIPSE OF THE CLASSICAL CITY

  THE CITY OF MAN VERSUS THE CITY OF GOD

  “ALL IS NEGLECT”

  CONSTANTINOPLE: URBAN SURVIVOR

  PART THREE - THE ORIENTAL EPOCH

  CHAPTER SEVEN - THE ISLAMIC ARCHIPELAGO

  MUHAMMAD’S URBAN VISION

  THE NATURE OF THE ISLAMIC CITY

  DAMASCUS: PARADISE ON EARTH

  BAGHDAD: “CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD”

  CAIRO’S GOLDEN AGE

  FROM NORTH AFRICA TO THE BORDERS OF CHINA

  INDIA’S ISLAMIC REBIRTH

  CHAPTER EIGHT - CITIES OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

  URBAN TRADITION IN AN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY

  “THE ASTRAL CENTER OF THE UNIVERSAL ORDER”

  “GREAT CLOUDS IN THE SKY”

  CHAPTER NINE - OPPORTUNITY LOST

  THE PROBLEM OF PROSPERITY

  THE LIMITS OF AUTOCRACY

  THE SUPPRESSION OF ENTREPRENEURS

  EUROPE’S REEMERGENCE

  PART FOUR - WESTERN CITIES REASSERT THEIR PRIMACY

  CHAPTER TEN - EUROPE’S URBAN RENAISSANCE

  THE SACRED ROOTS OF THE RENAISSANCE

  THE RETURN OF THE CITY-STATES

  VENICE: “JEWEL BOX OF THE WORLD”

  FLORENCE AND THE EMERGENCE OF MODERN URBAN POLITICS

  IMPERIAL CITIES OVERCOME THE CITY-STATES

  THE IBERIAN ASCENDANCY

  PARIS: THE ULTIMATE EUROPEAN CAPITAL CITY

  CHAPTER ELEVEN - CITIES OF MAMMON

  EUROPE’S EXPANDING URBAN ORDER

  THE FAILURE OF THE IBERIAN EMPIRES

  THE EMERGENCE OF THE NORTH

  AMSTERDAM: THE FIRST GREAT MODERN COMMERCIAL CITY

  LONDON

  THE WORLD CAPITALIST CAPITAL

  PART FIVE - THE INDUSTRIAL CITY

  CHAPTER TWELVE - THE ANGLO -AMERICAN URBAN REVOLUTION

  LANCASHIRE: ORIGINATOR OF THE REVOLUTION

  “WITH COGS TYRANNIC”

  “HERO OF THE AGE”

  URBANIZING THE “GARDEN OF THE WORLD”

  NEW YORK’S NINETEENTH-CENTURY INDUSTRIAL AGE EMERGENCE

  CITIES OF THE HEARTLAND

  THE CHALLENGE OF “PROGRESS”

  NEW YORK: THE ULTIMATE VERTICAL CITY

  “LIKE A WITCH AT THE GATE OF THE COUNTRY”

  AMERICA GOES HIGH-RISE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN - INDUSTRIALISM AND ITS DISCONTENTS

  THE GLOBAL IMPLICATIONS OF INDUSTRIALISM

  JAPAN’S SUDDEN INDUSTRIALIZATION

  “THE IRON MONSTER”

  RECONSTRUCTING JAPANESE CITIES

  THE NAZI EXPERIMENT

  RUSSIA: THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE

  THE ROAD TO REVOLUTION

  THE SOVIET SYSTEM

  “SHARPENING OUR AXES”

  COMMUNISM’S URBAN LEGACY

  PART SIX - THE MODERN METROPOLIS

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN - THE SEARCH FOR A “BETTER CITY”

  THE PROMISE OF LOS ANGELES

  A SHORT HISTORY OF SUBURBIA

  “ONIONS FIFTY TO A ROPE”

  A NEW URBAN VISION

  “A SIX ROOM HOUSE WITH A BIG YARD”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN - SUBURBIA TRIUMPHANT

  THE “SLEEP OF DEATH”

  SKYSCRAPERS AFLAME

  “GRAND ACHIEVEMENTS” AND THEIR LIMITATIONS

  THE FINAL AGONIES OF THE INDUSTRIAL CITY

  THE “UNIVERSAL ASPIRATION”

  ARGENTINA AND AUSTRALIA

  BRITAIN AND THE MODERN “GARDEN CITY”

  SUBURBANIZATION IN WESTERN EUROPE

  THE GHETTOIZATION OF EUROPEAN CITIES

  EVEN IN PARIS

  JAPANESE “GARDEN CITIES”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN - THE POSTCOLONIAL DILEMMA

  THE COLONIAL LEGACY

  “THE URBANIZATION OF THE COUNTRYSIDE”

  “EUROPEAN MICROCOSMS”

  “THE HALCYON DAYS”

  A FATEFUL BREAK IN URBAN HISTORY

  THE RISE OF SQUATTER CITIES

  AFRICA’S URBAN TRAGEDY

  “SOCIAL TIME BOMBS”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - “QUEENS OF THE FURTHER EAST”

  INDIA’S URBAN REVOLUTION

  EAST ASIA BREAKS THE MOLD

  SEOUL’S EMERGENCE

  BRITAIN’S SUCCESSFUL OFFSPRING

  SINGAPORE: ASIA’S MODEL CITY

  THE REVITALIZATION OF CONFUCIAN DISCOURSE

  CHINESE CITIES UNDER MAOISM

  THE FOUR MODERNIZATIONS AND THE REVIVAL OF CHINESE CITIES

  SHANGHAI’S RESURGENCE

  SUBURBIA COMES TO EAST ASIA

  About the Author

  ALSO BY JOEL KOTKIN

  CONCLUSION - THE URBAN FUTURE

  NOTES

  SUGGESTED READING

  THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD

  Copyright Page

  Praise for THE CITY

  “Provocative . . . Kotkin distills a lifetime of learning into 160 pages. . . . Everyone who loves cities and recognizes in them man’s greatest promise and his greatest challenges will enjoy this book. It belongs on every booster’s required reading list.”

  —Richmond Times-Dispatch

  “[The City] is a bracing book, one whose theses and arguments must be taken seriously and dealt with by anyone who wishes to forecast the urban future, or even describe what is going on today.”

  —The New York Sun

  “Bold . . . a strategic, accessible narration of urbanism in general from ancient Mesopotamia to the present.”

  —Booklist

  “Useful . . . a thoughtful survey, of interest to students of urban affairs and of world history alike.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “[The City] is a quick ride through fertile territory. . . . The questions Kotkin raises about the future of our civilization, based as it is on a particular form of urban living, deserve deep deliberation.”

  —The American Enterprise />
  “If you want to understand why the future of American and European cities is mixed at best, if you want to understand why George Bush won the 2004 election, you need to read Joel Kotkin’s account of how and why cities have developed and declined.”

  —FRED SIEGEL, author of Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York, and the Genius of American Life, senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute

  “Unique and powerful insights into urban life . . . This book is a great read.”

  —BOB LANIER, mayor of Houston, 1992–1998

  Modern Library Chronicles

  ALSO BY JOEL KOTKIN

  California, Inc. (with Paul Grabowicz)

  The Valley

  The Third Century (with Yoriko Kishimoto)

  Tribes

  The New Geography

  TO MY BROTHER, MARK

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The writing of this book has been something like the intellectual equivalent of trench warfare. The scope has been so wide, and the need for information so pressing, that I have often felt overwhelmed by the work ahead and perturbed by the seemingly torturous pace of progress.

  Such a grueling, albeit highly satisfying, experience would have been intolerable without the help and indulgence of many individuals. I first want to thank my agent, Melanie Jackson, and my publicist, Jackie Green, for their unwavering support. I also owe a great debt to my editors at Random House, first Scott Moyers and later Will Murphy, for their great editing and direction.

  Editors at various newspapers and magazines have helped hone this effort. I am particularly grateful to editors of long acquaintance, especially Gary Spiecker at the Los Angeles Times and Steve Luxemburg and Zofia Smardz at The Washington Post. I also owe thanks to The New York Times’s Patrick J. Lyons; Barbara Phillips and Max Boot at The Wall Street Journal; and Ed Sussman at Inc. I would also like to express my special appreciation to Karl Zinsmeister at the American Enterprise for many wonderful opportunities, great conversations, and constant ecouragement.

  I owe much to those who contributed most directly to this effort, my research assistants from the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University, where I was a senior fellow until the summer of 2004. These include Heather Barbour, Joseph “Joe” Hummer, Mingjie “Carol” Li, Cynthia Guerrero, and Sarah Priestnall, all of whom contributed significantly to this effort.

  I am especially indebted to two assistants who, after graduation, continued to aid this effort. Erika Ozuna, now resident back home in McAllen, Texas, helped not only with general research, but mostly with that concerning her native Mexico. Reverend Karen Speicher not only did prodigious research, but also influenced the content, particularly in terms of the central role of religion. I also would like to extend my thanks to key Pepperdine personnel, especially former university president David Davenport, Sheryl Kelo, Brad Cheves, Britt Daino, Marie-Ann Thaler, and James Wilburn, as well as my colleague Michael Shires.

  The research on cities also benefited from the support of the Milken Institute, notably Ross DeVol and Suzanne Trimbath, and most especially Perry Wong, who was kind enough to help me with the sections on Chinese history. I also feel a debt of gratitude to Ali Modarres, a professor at California State University at Los Angeles and an expert on Islamic cities. David Friedman, my good friend and intellectual partner, assisted with thinking on the book, most particularly in the sections dealing with Japan. In addition, I want to thank my colleague at the New America Foundation, Gregory Rodriguez, who offered his friendship as well as his understanding of Los Angeles and the impact of immigration. I should like to express my gratitude to Robert Carr, who cheerfully maintained and designed the electronic network without which this book could not have been written.

  My understanding of Los Angeles was further enhanced by work I have conducted for the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley with the assistance of Robert Scott, David Fleming, and Bruce Ackerman. In addition, I have been fortunate to work on projects with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, particularly with Matt Toledo, Lee Harrington, and Jack Kyser. In the Inland Empire, I appreciate the opportunity to work with the La Jolla Institute and the Inland Empire Economic Partnership, in particular Steve PonTell and Terri Ooms. I have also learned a great deal about California and cities in general from Kevin Starr, now at the University of Southern California.

  My understanding of other contemporary American cities was greatly assisted by my work in various locations. In many of these places, I have been assisted by my friend William Frey, a demographer working at the Brookings Institution and at the University of Michigan. John Kasarda at the Kenan Institute at the University of North Carolina also provided encouragement and timely comments as the manuscript was being prepared.

  Speaking and work as a consultant has given me invaluable hands-on experience on the functioning of cities. I have been fortunate to learn much about the middle of America through my association with the Regional Chamber and Commerce Association of St. Louis, particularly in the persons of Dick Fleming, Robert Coy, and Debbie Frederick. Andrew Segal, David Wolff, and Mayor Bob Lanier of Houston also helped me to understand and appreciate the dynamics of that growing, vital Texas metropolis. My work with Delore Zimmerman, principal at CEO Praxis, has given me excellent insight into the dynamics of small cities in the Great Plains, while that with Leslie Parks has been invaluable in places such as San Jose and Portland, Oregon.

  In New York, I have been fortunate to be a fellow at the Newman Institute at Baruch College, City University of New York, and to have many conversations with Henry Wollman, a prominent developer and director of the institute. Also in New York, I would like to extend my gratitude to the Center for an Urban Future, including Neil Kleiman, Jonathan Bowles, Kim Nauer, and Noemi Altman, colleagues on the center’s 2004 study on the future of America’s premier metropolis.

  I was also helped in Europe, most particularly by Eduard Bomhoff and the city of Rotterdam, which sponsored a visit there to see and learn about that great port city. Geert Mak and Paul Brink in Amsterdam were essential guides to the essential precursor of the modern commercial metropolis. I further appreciate the assistance in understanding Montreal by my uncle (by marriage) Léon Graub and by numerous people in Paris, including my French in-laws.

  In terms of Asia, I will always owe a debt to my Japanese sensei, the late Jiro Tokuyama, whose insights live with me even if he has gone into another realm. My friend Vincent Diau has been a constant source of information about new developments in China.

  Perhaps no one was a greater aid in putting this book together than my friend and occasional coauthor Fred Siegel, professor of Urban History at Cooper Union in New York. Fred’s knowledge of urban history, particularly in Europe and the United States, informed many of my reading decisions and, at times, challenged ideas that needed to be challenged.

  It is to my family, who had to endure my endless complaining and occasional desk-pounding fits, that I owe the greatest debt. This includes my brother, Mark, to whom this book is dedicated, my sister-in-law, Pamela Putnam, and my remarkable mother, Loretta Kotkin. And most particularly to my greatest continuing inspiration, my beloved and ever patient wife, Mandy, my cherished daughters, the ever curious Ariel Shelley and the new addition to our California household, little Hannah Elisabeth. We expect to hear much more from those two young urbanites in the future.

  PREFACE

  The evolution of cities embodies the story of humanity as it rose from primitive origins to impose itself on the world. It also represents, as the French theologian Jacques Ellul once noted, man’s fall from natural grace and the subsequent attempt to create a new, workable order.

  “Cain has built a city,” Ellul wrote. “For God’s Eden he substitutes his own.”1 This striving to create a new kind of man-made environment occupied the original city builders from Mesoamerica to China, North Africa, India, and Mesopotamia. In the process, they forged a social and moral order transcending the old tribal and clan relations
hips that previously had shaped human relationships.

  Two central themes have informed this history of cities. First is the universality of the urban experience, despite vast differences in race, climate, and location. This was true even before instant communication, global networks, and ease of transportation made the commonality among cities ever more obvious. As the French historian Fernand Braudel once noted, “A town is always a town, wherever it is located, in time as well as space.” 2

  The sixteenth-century diary of Bernal Díaz, with which this book begins, reveals this in startling ways. A soldier with Cortés, Díaz encountered a totally alien urbanity—the great city of Tenochtitlán, now Mexico City—that still exhibited characteristics found in European cities such as Seville, Antwerp, or Constantinople.

  Like a European metropolis, Tenochtitlán was anchored by a great religious center, a sacred space. It lay in a well-defended, secure location that allowed for an intense city life. The great Aztec capital also boasted large marketplaces that, while offering many strange and exotic goods, still functioned in much the same way as their counterparts in cities across the Atlantic.