ABSTRACT
Demographic and economic forces created the necessary stimulus that ultimately led to urban growth and urbanisation in Europe and other rapidly industrialising nations. This chapter examines the origins of cities some six thousand years ago and the social implications of early urbanism. In Medieval Europe, we find a dynamic tension between urban-based merchant classes and feudal princes that culminated in the formation of nation-states, which came to dominate all other forms of political organisation thereafter. The demographic transition is now recognised as a global process, although its onset has varied significantly across the globe since it began in Northern Europe in the eighteenth century. The dramatic social, cultural and economic changes associated with the Industrial Revolution and increased urban habitation also contributed to a decline in fertility rates, as women took on new roles in the labour market and the costs of having children rose along with the benefits of investing more in their health and education.
