▪ Abstract I survey recent literature about early cities in the regional traditions of Southwest
Asia, Egypt, South Asia, China, Mesoamerica, Andean South America, Sub-Saharan Africa,
Greece, and Rome. Major themes include the importance of theorizing individuals and their
practices, interests, and emotions; the extent to which the first cities were deliberately
created rather than merely emerging as by-products of increasing sociopolitical complexity;
internal structure of cities and the interplay of top-down planning and bottom-up self�…