Conceptual approaches to service provision in cities throughout history

Smith, Michael E.; Dennehy, Timothy J.; Kamp-Whittaker, April; Stanley, Benjamin W.; Stark, Barbara; York, Abigail M.

doi:10.1177/0042098015577915

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Likewise, published maps are essential for our analysis, but sometimes this spatial information is augmented by textual descriptions of service facilities that need to be interpreted in conjunction with map information. For the three historical cases explored here, the most valuable information was derived from anthropologists (Prins ; Levy ), architectural historians (Gutschow , 2011; Ghaidan ), and urban historians with an explicitly spatial orientation (Laughton ; MMCP 2013); for specifics on spatial data used, see Stanley and colleagues (). In cases where we were unable to locate published maps of historical cities showing neighborhoods or service facilities within them, we painstakingly reconciled current maps with textual references about the historical trajectories of individual neighborhoods and urban institutions.…”

Section: Mapping Urban Services and Social Inequality: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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9 Social Inequality and Access to Services in Premodern Cities

Dennehy

Stanley

Smith

2016

Archaeological Papers of the American

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We use spatial analytical methods to illuminate one aspect of the urban experience: equity of access to facilities that provide material, religious, and assembly services. We compare three cities known from archaeology (Teotihuacan, Tikal, and Empuries) and three historical cities (Bhaktapur, Chester, and Lamu). Some neighborhoods had better access to service facilities than others, pointing to ancient patterns of spatial inequality. Data on house size suggest that status also impacted service access. Greater travel time to service facilities negatively impacts the well-being of urban residents in two ways: it reduces access to key services, and it takes time away from other activities. Our methods for identifying these spatial patterns of inequality open a new window on the implications of social inequality for the premodern urban experience. [Urban services, social inequality, spatial analysis, human experience]A rchaeologists and others have long argued that the Urban Revolution-the development of the earliest states and cities-was one of the most far-reaching transformations in the history of human society. New institutions and practices-kingship, social stratification, organized religion, formal property relations, large cities, and many others-arose in several parts of the world (Adams 1966; Smith 2009; Trigger 2003). Perhaps less appreciated, however, are the fundamental transformations of the human experience that accompanied the Urban Revolution. Political subordination, poverty, reduced personal freedom, crowding, and lowered life expectancy did not originate overnight with the earliest states and cities; all had precedents in earlier societies (Flannery and Marcus 2012). But these experiences were greatly intensified after the Urban Revolution. The empirical documentation of such transformations is a crucial task for archaeology, one that is necessary if we are to understand how life was lived in the past, and how past human experiences compare to life today.In this chapter we address this task by focusing on a social domain-urban inequality-with particular relevance for comparing human experiences in the past and the present. The earliest cities were places of inequality where poorer residents shared the streets with wealthy, powerful elites. What did this juxtaposition of social classes mean for urban life in the past? How can archaeologists study the issue? We argue that by focusing on three universals of urban life and organization-elites, neighborhoods, and urban servicesarchaeologists and historians can generate reliable data on urban inequality in the past. This approach allows us to contribute to all four components of the Archaeology of the Human Experience (AHE). Specifically, we (1) investigate

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Section: Mapping Urban Services and Social Inequality: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, our project seeks to build a stronger framework for understanding service inequality by examining theoretical models of service provision (Smith et al. ). In cities today, most urban services are provided by governments at various levels—municipal, state, or federal.…”

Section: Conclusion: Moving Forward With the Archaeology Of The Humanmentioning

confidence: 99%

9 Social Inequality and Access to Services in Premodern Cities

Dennehy

Stanley

Smith

2016

Archaeological Papers of the American

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“…Organic and inorganic waste has influenced coastal settlement patterns and urban design since antiquity because locations of waste disposal and management relate to factors as diverse as wind direction and social class (Smith et al. ; Kukkonen et al. ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical perspectives on contemporary human–environment dynamics in southeast Africa

Douglass

Walz

Morales

et al. 2019

Conservation Biology

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The human communities and ecosystems of island and coastal southeast Africa face significant and linked ecological threats. Socioecological conditions of concern to communities, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and researchers include declining agricultural productivity, deforestation, introductions of non-native flora and fauna, coastal erosion and sedimentation, damage to marine environments, illegal fishing, overfishing, waste pollution, salinization of freshwater supplies, and rising energy demands, among others. Human-environment challenges are connected to longer, often ignored, histories of social and ecological dynamics in the region. We argue that these challenges are more effectively understood and addressed within a longer-term historical ecology framework. We reviewed cases from Madagascar, coastal Kenya, and the Zanzibar Archipelago of fisheries, deforestation, and management of human waste to encourage increased engagement among historical ecologists, conservation scientists, and policy makers. These case studies demonstrate that by widening the types and time depths of data sets we used to investigate and address current socioecological challenges, our interpretations of their causes and strategies for their mitigation varied significantly.Perspectivas Históricas sobre las Dinámicas Contemporáneas entre Humanos y el Ambiente en el Sureste deÁfrica Resumen: Las comunidades humanas y los ecosistemas de las costas del sureste africano enfrentan amenazas ecológicas significativas y vinculadas. Las condiciones socio-ecológicas que preocupan a las comunidades, los gobiernos, las organizaciones no gubernamentales y a los investigadores incluyen la poductividad agrícola en declinación, la deforestación, la introducción de flora y fauna no nativa, la sedimentación y erosión costera, el daño hacia los ecosistemas marinos, la pesca ilegal, la sobrepesca, la contaminación por desechos, la salinización de las cuencas de agua dulce, y la creciente demanda de energía, entre otras. Los retos humanos -ecosistema están conectados con historias más largas, y frecuentemente ignoradas, de dinámicas sociales y ecológicas en la región. Argumentamos que estos retos se entienden y se tratan con mayor efectividad dentro de un marco de trabajo de ecología histórica con un periodo más largo. Revisamos casos de pesquerías, deforestación y manejo de desechos humanos en Madagascar, la costa de Kenia y el archipiélago de Zanzíbar para propiciar una mayor participación entre los ecologistas históricos, los científicos de la conservación, y los * email: kdouglass@psu.edu Article impact statement: Past human-environment dynamics are key to addressing today's threats to livelihoods and ecosystems in island and coastal southeast Africa. Douglass et al. 261legisladores. Estos estudios de caso demuestran que al ampliar los tipos y la temporalidad de los conjuntos de datos que usamos para investigar y tratar los retos socio-ecológicos contemporáneos, nuestras interpretaciones de las causas de estos retos y las estrategias para...

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“…I was stimulated to write this paper by a seeming contradiction: I am concerned with theory and have published several papers on the subject (Smith 1992(Smith , 2011Smith et al 2016); my approach to theory and epistemology are not, however, included in definitions of 'archaeological theory' by prominent archaeologists. Figure 1 lists the diverse approaches considered 'archaeological theory' by Ian Hodder (2012) and Julian Thomas (2015).…”

Section: Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

Social science and archaeological enquiry

Smith¹

2017

Antiquity

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Is archaeology a social science? Most archaeologists would probably agree that the goal of our discipline is to learn about the people, societies and cultures of the past. Thus there should be little objection to labelling archaeology a ‘social’ field of study. We study both people and society, but what about the ‘science’ part? This label is more controversial. Many archaeologists reject the notion that archaeology is, can be or should be a science. Others assume that archaeology is indeed a science and get on with their work, not worrying much about epistemology or definitions of science. Still others pursue decidedly non-scientific goals yet borrow scientific techniques from other disciplines and call it ‘archaeological science’.

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Conceptual approaches to service provision in cities throughout history

Cited by 18 publications

References 43 publications

9 Social Inequality and Access to Services in Premodern Cities

9 Social Inequality and Access to Services in Premodern Cities

Historical perspectives on contemporary human–environment dynamics in southeast Africa

Social science and archaeological enquiry

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