CITIES: THE FIRST 6,000 YEARS by Monica L. Smith, an archaeologist and anthropologist on the faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles, outlines the reasons for cities’ existence. She focuses on consumption and materialism while also noting security, employment, entertainment, and diversity as important factors: "urban social life and the entrepreneurial spirit associated with migration constituted a feedback loop that enticed more and more people who were looking to better their circumstances." Acknowledging the many problems associated with cities (e.g., pollution, noise, crime), Smith draws an intriguing parallel with "another phenomenon that has seemingly sprung out of nowhere and causes a good deal of trouble, yet has become thoroughly interwoven with our lives: the internet." Given her background, however, the emphasis seems to be on why cities arose and less on how they have evolved. Although her last chapter does peer into the "next 6,000 years," most of the text seems to be looking backwards. Smith specifically refers to life examples from ancient cities in order to note that "making our own cities better ... is likely to involve investment in three things:" social awareness, socioeconomic hierarchies, and the spirit of consumption. CITIES: THE FIRST 6,000 YEARS contains notes and an index and was recently reviewed in The Wall Street Journal in "The Metropolis and the Masses."

Link in live post:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cities-review-the-metropolis-and-the-masses-11563317770

In her book Cities: The First 6,000 Years, archaeologist Monica L. Smith gives us the story of cities: how people built them and why, how ancient cities compare to modern cities, and how cities impact the people who live in them. It is a fascinating look at the urban environments that so many of us take for granted, unquestioningly walking streets everyday without considering why or what went before.

Smith's love of archaeology and discovery shine clearly off of each page- she seems as eager to share her discoveries with us as we are to read about them. What I found most interesting was that Smith's views on the development of cities were such a seamless flow between the physical and the psychological. She describes what a city needs: infrastructure of roads, water, food, planning, but also what a city does: it provides humans with exposure to people, ideas, and consumer goods that they would never see in a rural setting. Much of the book examines how consumer habits are both created by the environment but also create the environment and the people's mindsets in turn.

There is also the inevitable discussion of what comes next. What about the collapse of cities? Looking at the question from an archaeologist's point of view, Smith argues that perhaps this isn't as inevitable as we often think. Cities may grow and change with the times, the environment, and the people in them, but historically very few simply end. And even if a city ends (like Pompeii), its people may survive, move on, integrate and influence other cities.

Although occasionally repetitive, Cities is a book full of fascinating information and new ways for people to look at the urban environments around them. An excellent read for history lovers, those interested in archaeology, or even human psychology, as Smith makes the argument that all of those aspects go into what makes a city and how we should look at their history.