Metropolis
A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention
HISTORY
by Ben Wilson
4/27/20248 min read
Welcome to the book summary of “Metropolis - A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention” by Ben Wilson, written and narrated by Janky Mind.
Introduction
Cities are like giant engines that have powered the story of humans for more than 200,000 years. Think of Athens, where people first voted; Baghdad, with its bustling markets; and London, the king of money-making. These places show us how cities have been at the heart of how we live, work, and play.
Imagine a city sprouting up 7,000 years ago, right in the middle of swamps and rivers. What can we learn from the old days when cities were just starting to boom, and everyone wanted to live there?
From the ancient lands of Mesopotamia to the buzzing streets of modern Lagos, cities have always been places where new ideas pop up and big things happen. But living all squished together hasn’t always been easy. Now, with our planet facing big problems like warming weather and lots of people moving around, more than half of us live in cities that keep on growing.
By looking back at the big wins and oops moments of old cities, we can pick up clues on how to make our city life better in the future.
So, let’s zip through time and explore the great adventure of cities, stopping by a few famous ones to see what they can tell us about where we’re headed next. 🏙️✨
Chapter 1: City Powerhouses
Cities are like big melting pots where all the cool stuff happens. From the dusty roads of ancient Mesopotamia to the shiny skyscrapers of Shanghai, cities are where humans have cooked up their best ideas. But why do we flock to cities, and how do they keep bouncing back from tough times like wars, sickness, and even the weather going bonkers?
Well, cities are where the action is! They’ve got better jobs, cooler places to hang out, and more chances to climb the ladder than the countryside. They’re like giant playgrounds for grown-ups, where people bump into each other and say, “Hey, let’s make something awesome together!” Back in the day, even when only a few folks lived in cities, they were busy inventing writing, figuring out numbers, making rules, and crafting neat tools.
Fast forward through history, and you’ve got places like Uruk and Harappa, then Athens and Rome, and even Cordoba, where people were inventing money-making and making beautiful art. When trains and factories came along, cities grew like crazy!
Jump to 1900, and only 10% of us lived in cities. But by the time the 20th century wrapped up, more than half of us were city slickers. Now, cities are getting bigger and taller, and there’s no sign of stopping.
The thing is, our future is all tied up with cities. If we want to make sure tomorrow is bright, we need to learn from the city wins and fails of the past. We don’t have to put up with dirty, crowded, or ugly cities. People have been shaping cities for ages, and if we all pitch in, we can build cities that are ready for the 21st, 22nd, and beyond! 🚀🏙️✨
Lesson 2: The Story of Uruk
Once upon a time, 7,000 years ago, the first big city popped up in a place you’d least expect—a swampy area in southern Mesopotamia. This place, called Uruk, was a superstar of the ancient world, making huge leaps in building cool buildings, making art, playing with numbers, running things smoothly, and inventing new gadgets.
But, building a big city wasn’t all fun and games. When lots of people live together, things can get messy. There were rich folks and poor folks, fights, and even people being forced to work without any choice. And the environment? It took a hit too. The famous king Gilgamesh of Uruk knew this all too well when he went on an adventure outside his city looking for answers.
Uruk started as a bunch of tiny villages where people fished and hunted. Over time, these villages joined up and started building awesome temples for their gods. But nature kept throwing curveballs with floods and sandstorms. The people of Uruk had to get smart and work together to survive.
They built big watering systems for their crops and started making lots of food and fancy things to trade. They even had the world’s first receipt, written by a guy named Kushim, which was the start of writing! As the city got busier, they had to come up with new ways to keep track of everything and everyone.
Not everything was great, though. The city had a pecking order, and not everyone was treated nicely. Wars started to happen more often as cities fought over land and stuff. Big bosses like Gilgamesh became even more powerful, and cities got rich by making other places pay them.
When the weather changed and crops didn’t grow, the old rulers fell. But the city life stuck around. New groups took over and made even more amazing cities like Babylon and Nineveh. All the smart things that Uruk started—like writing, trading, math, and big buildings—stayed around and got even better.
All over the ancient world, from the Great Wall of China to the pyramids of Mexico, small villages grew into huge cities and became the heart of civilizations. This journey has been a mixed bag for us humans. Sure, bringing lots of people together in cities sparked tons of great ideas and skills, but it also led to some not-so-great stuff like people taking advantage of each other and fights breaking out.
It’s like the story of Gilgamesh, the ancient king who had some big questions about life. We’re still trying to figure out the same puzzles he did, right on the same riverbanks where cities first started thousands of years ago.
Lesson 3: The Tale of Two Cities
Back in the 1800s, cities like Manchester and Chicago were the new kids on the block. They were full of mind-blowing machines and factories that made people’s jaws drop. But, they were also pretty tough places to live. People left their farms hoping for a better life, only to find themselves in a cloud of smoke and working in super tough conditions.
In Chicago, a nasty cholera outbreak took out a big chunk of the city in 1854. And in Manchester, during the industrial revolution, people were lucky if they hit 26 years old. Yikes!
The rich folks didn’t know what to make of it. They saw crowded rooms, dirty streets, and even kids working in factories. It looked like cities were just grinding people down for profit.
But hold on, it wasn’t all doom and gloom. These rough neighborhoods were also where people came together, made friends, and started fixing things up. They formed clubs, fought for cleaner streets, and saw the city as a ladder to a better life.
Cities were buzzing with new ideas and people fighting for change. In Manchester, a guy named Friedrich Engels wrote about the tough life in the slums. Over in Chicago, Jane Addams set up places to help the poor. Slowly but surely, things started to get better.
By the end of the 19th century, Manchester and Chicago had changed a lot. People had more money in their pockets and were all about having fun. They’d go out to pubs, music halls, and sports games. Soccer and baseball became huge, and stadiums turned into the new hotspots.
Some thought these cities were lost causes, but the people living there had other plans. They showed us that with a little bit of elbow grease, cities could go from being pretty scary places to spots where everyone wanted to be. 🏭🌆✨
Lesson 4: The Buzz of Lagos
What’s the city of tomorrow going to be like? A shiny place with robots and super-smart computers? Or a huge, wild city with lots of tiny houses everywhere? Maybe it’s something totally different.
Let’s zoom in on Lagos, Nigeria. It’s a mega-city that’s really complicated and keeps getting bigger every day as people come looking for their big break. Lagos has its fair share of headaches: traffic jams that last forever, lights that go out, and too much crime. But guess what? It’s also full of hope and wins. It’s the go-to spot for young folks who want to dive into cool parties, fashion, and start their own tech businesses. Lagos is like the champion of city life that started 7,000 years ago with the first city ever, Uruk.
Lagos is pretty good at rolling with the punches, just like Uruk did. It’s grown up in its own unique way, with people coming up with clever fixes when there’s no big plan to follow. You’ll find creativity everywhere, from little repair shops to markets filled with computers, and even neighborhoods that somehow stick to the wetlands. The big bosses might not like this messy way of doing things, but it’s what makes Lagos tick.
Cities have always been great at mixing the official stuff with the street-smart tricks that people come up with. For our world that’s getting more and more city-like, the secret sauce isn’t about making everything perfect. It’s about being tough, flexible, and creative with the messy, real-life stuff.
We’ve got to think of cities as living things that change and grow, especially with the climate going all wacky and resources getting scarce. This means packing more into less space and making it easier for people to walk around. If we want a green and happy future, we need to make our cities feel like cozy neighborhoods, not just spread out everywhere.
Humans are city animals. We shape our cities, and they shape us back. The ancient city of Uruk hung in there through some pretty wild weather for a really long time. Our big cities today need to be just as tough to handle the crazy climate changes coming our way. That strength comes from all of us putting our heads together.
Lagos, with all its wildness, shows us a little peek at what’s possible. The real heart of the city beats in places like Computer Village with its buzzing repair shops, not the fancy new skyscrapers. Walking through these lively streets, we get a sneak peek at the busy, mixed-up, fun, and smart city life that’s waiting for us. 🌆💡✨
Final summary
Cities are like big, bold science labs for human life. Since the days of ancient Uruk, they’ve been places where all the smart and creative people gather to make magic happen. But as cities grow, they also grow problems—some people end up with a lot, while others get a little.
Nowadays, with the weather acting up and more people moving into cities, keeping these urban jungles thriving is a real balancing act. It’s about mixing the big plans from the top with the street-smart ideas from the bottom.
What happens next in our city story? Will our cities lift us all up to the stars, or will some be left in the dust? That’s the big question for the next hundred years.
About the author
Ben Wilson, a history whiz with fancy degrees from Cambridge and a bunch of books under his belt, including a hit called Empire of the Deep. He’s shared his know-how with everyone from newspaper readers to magazine flippers, spreading the word about our past to help us shape our future.