ABSTRACT
In the introduction to The City in History, Lewis Mumford observes that the book begins “with a city that was, symbolically, a world; it closes with a world that has become, in many practical aspects, a city” (p.xi). Although it took many decades to realize this transformation, it is nevertheless a remarkable one. The selection included here, “The First Urban Transformation,” is the opening section of the chapter, “The Crystallization of the City.” Here, Mumford describes the “implosion” that led to the first great expansion of civilization: the creation of cities. Under the leadership of the new “institution of Kingship,” the diverse and scattered elements of a civilization were compressed into the boundaries of cities. This contrasts to the explosion of our own era, as boundaries disappear and we become more of a global community. Mumford argues that to understand this process—and to understand the city in our own age—we must study its origins, form, functions, and historical development.
