Understanding the First Urban Revolution

Abstract

Space-economy provides some explanations of the first urban revolution. The main one stems from the strong polarizing effect of the development of transportation networks, whose critical points favor a regrouping of people and activities. A second explanation relates to the existence of breaking points (or points of discontinuity) in a continuous space, or in some segments of a network. Such breaking points are often associated with transshipment costs; this has important consequences, as far as locations are concerned. A third explanation is given by the central place theory, and the need to provide certain goods and services to agricultural regions in an effective way. A fourth explanation is offered by the network–systems theory, which insists on the fact that cities play a major role in the expansion of urban systems and urbexplosions as outpost settlements in the peripheral regions surrounding expanding urban systems. Finally, agglomeration economies have played a role, but that factor may have been exaggerated.