Urban Life in the Distant Past - The Prehistory of Energized Crowding

"In this book, Michael E. 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"--

About the author

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.

Product details

• Authors: Michael Smith, Michael E Smith, Smith Michael E.
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 22.08.2024
• EAN: 9781009249003
• ISBN: 978-1-009-24900-3
• Dimensions: 178 mm x 254 mm x 18 mm
• Weight: 633 g
• Illustrations: Worked examples or Exercises
• Series: Urban Archaeological Pasts
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; European History, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Archaeology, General & world history, Australasian & Pacific history, Archaeology by period / region, General and world history, History of the Americas, Australasian and Pacific history