The Destiny of Cities

12/7/10.

Victor Davis Hanson writes:

"Throughout history, forces both natural and human have made cities rise and fall.


The eruption of Mount Vesuvius obliterated Pompeii and Herculaneum.As the world steadily grows more urbanized, with 50 percent of its population no longer rural, it is more important than ever to ask how cities either perish or manage to survive. The question can be hard to answer. Why, following centuries of periodic depopulation and neglect, are Rome and Athens once again capitals, while Leptis Magna and Ephesus—once-thriving imperial powerhouses on the coasts of Libya and Turkey, respectively—are long deserted? Was it climate, or location, or a larger cultural tradition of resilience that eventually brought Rome and Athens back in a way that didn’t happen with the other two cities?"...

http://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_4_destiny-of-cities.html