TY - JOUR
T1 - The persistence of ancient settlements and urban sustainability
AU - Smith, Michael E.
AU - Lobo, Joseá¨
AU - Peeples, Matthew A.
AU - York, Abigail M.
AU - Stanley, Benjamin W.
AU - Crawford, Katherine A.
AU - Gauthier, Nicolas
AU - Huster, Angela C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Parts of this research were supported by the NSF, RIDIR (Resource Implementations for Data Intensive Research in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences), Grants 1738062, 1738181, 1738245, and 1738258.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/5/18
Y1 - 2021/5/18
N2 - We propose a dedicated research effort on the determinants of settlement persistence in the ancient world, with the potential to significantly advance the scientific understanding of urban sustainability today. Settlements (cities, towns, villages) are locations with two key attributes: They frame human interactions and activities in space, and they are where people dwell or live. Sustainability, in this case, focuses on the capacity of structures and functions of a settlement system (geography, demography, institutions) to provide for continuity of safe habitation. The 7,000-y-old experience of urbanism, as revealed by archaeology and history, includes many instances of settlements and settlement systems enduring, adapting to, or generating environmental, institutional, and technological changes. The field of urban sustainability lacks a firm scientific foundation for understanding the long durée, relying instead on narratives of collapse informed by limited case studies. We argue for the development of a new interdisciplinary research effort to establish scientific understanding of settlement and settlement system persistence. Such an effort would build upon the many fields that study human settlements to develop new theories and databases from the extensive documentation of ancient and premodern urban systems. A scientific foundation will generate novel insights to advance the field of urban sustainability.
AB - We propose a dedicated research effort on the determinants of settlement persistence in the ancient world, with the potential to significantly advance the scientific understanding of urban sustainability today. Settlements (cities, towns, villages) are locations with two key attributes: They frame human interactions and activities in space, and they are where people dwell or live. Sustainability, in this case, focuses on the capacity of structures and functions of a settlement system (geography, demography, institutions) to provide for continuity of safe habitation. The 7,000-y-old experience of urbanism, as revealed by archaeology and history, includes many instances of settlements and settlement systems enduring, adapting to, or generating environmental, institutional, and technological changes. The field of urban sustainability lacks a firm scientific foundation for understanding the long durée, relying instead on narratives of collapse informed by limited case studies. We argue for the development of a new interdisciplinary research effort to establish scientific understanding of settlement and settlement system persistence. Such an effort would build upon the many fields that study human settlements to develop new theories and databases from the extensive documentation of ancient and premodern urban systems. A scientific foundation will generate novel insights to advance the field of urban sustainability.
KW - Archaeology
KW - Cities
KW - Persistence
KW - Sustainability
KW - Urbanism
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.2018155118
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2018155118
M3 - Review article
C2 - 33972421
AN - SCOPUS:85105750650
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 118
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 20
M1 - e2018155118
ER -