The first urban revolution as a self-organized process

Juval Portugali

Chapter 3 in The Second Urban Revolution, 2025, pp 79-103 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: As the title indicates, this chapter approaches the first urban revolution from the perspective of complexity theory as a self-organized process. For this purpose, it first adds the following theoretical components to the basic properties of the theory introduced in the Introduction: chaos theory and the new theory of networks. Secondly, it shows that human memory entails three types of systemic change in self-organization (stratigraphic, furcative, and hermeneutic) that are unique to cities. With this extended theoretical perspective, it examines two models for the transition from Neolithic agriculture to urbanism: a neo-Darwinian model, which suggests that urbanization is largely a case of imperfect evolutionary transmission (a copying mistake), and an autocatalytic network model (inspired by Kauffman), which posits that urbanization is a logical, almost necessary, outcome of the basic characteristics of the Neolithic society that preceded it.

Keywords: Chaos theory; Network; Random graph; Small worlds; Memory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035350117
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