The Urbanization Process: From Ancient Cities to Modern Metropolises

The Urbanization Process

The urbanization process consists of concentrating population and the most dynamic economic and cultural activities within cities.

Antiquity

In Europe, the urbanization process began around the third millennium BC with the creation of cities in the Eastern Mediterranean by trading civilizations like Crete. However, the definitive push toward urbanization came in the 8th century BC, first with the Greeks and then with Roman rule, which spread cities all across the empire.

In Spain, the first cities (Cádiz and Ampurias) emerged in the 8th century BC thanks to colonization by Mediterranean peoples (Phoenicians and Greeks). The number of cities increased during the period of Roman rule, when numerous cities were founded, such as Tarragona, Mérida, Zaragoza, Barcelona and Sevilla. Throughout its empire, Rome spread a city design based on a regular or grid plan, with numerous public spaces and buildings: forums, temples, theatres, baths, etc. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the cities went into decline and the majority of their inhabitants moved to the countryside.

The Middle Ages

In Europe, the old cities continued to decline at the beginning of the Middle Ages, since feudalism imposed an agrarian economy. However, starting in the 12th century, the development of trade infused new life into old cities and caused new ones to be founded.

• In Spain, the Muslim conquest meant that there were both Muslim and Christian cities.
  • The Muslims transformed existing cities and founded new ones such as Madrid, Almeria and Murcia.
  • The Christians created new cities along the route of the Camino de Santiago and in the territories conquered from the Muslims such as Segovia, Avila and Salamanca.

The cities developed by these two cultures were walled, had an irregular plan and included singular buildings -such as mosques, souks and cathedrals- and market places.

The Modern Period

The 16th to 19th centuries saw the growth of the cities that the new European states had chosen as their capitals, such as Paris, Berlin and Vienna. Moreover, with the geographical explorations and the creation of vast colonial empires, urban growth was displaced from the Mediterranean toward the Atlantic and Northern Europe. This explains, for example, the growth of Sevilla in the 16th century, Antwerp and Amsterdam in the early 17th century, and London starting in the 18th century.

• In the Renaissance, people designed ideal cities and neighbourhoods adopted the grid plans of the Classical period.
• In the Baroque period and the Enlightenment, absolute monarchs like Louis XIV in France or Charles III in Spain displayed their power by restructuring and embellishing their cities. To do so, they erected buildings such as palaces, city halls, hospitals, churches, convents, and, in Spain, main squares, and added wide avenues, squares, fountains, bridges and gardens to cities.