In this class we examine the 'first principles' of cities, with a focus on their physical features and social stratification that comes with large sedentary populations.

1. CITIES
A R T 1 0 0
U n d e r s t a n d i n g V i s u a l C u l t u r e

2. agenda 4.21.16
• we can "read" the visual pattern of the city just like we can
"read" the composition of a painting or photograph it has
a formal, visual organization that opens up a set of
semiotic readings
• early cities: characteristic features of cities
• an early example of "urban planning"
• modern discipline of urban planning
• what principles should guide our planning today?

3. first key feature: site
Q: what makes one site better than another?

8. Q: what makes one site better than another?
A: proximity to water
• freshwater supply/basic sanitation system
• transportation and trade

9. ritual bathing in the Ganges River, India
source of water for:
drinking
cooking
bathing
washing clothes

10. Li River, China: traditional bamboo fishing boats

11. commercial uses of water:
• fishing
• transport of passengers and goods
• local, regional, and international trade

12. what else do you need?
• food supply (imported from surrounding agricultural areas)
• place of protection (often built where "natural" fortifications
exist or walled in)

13. satellite photo
of Beijing
showing
surrounding
mountains

14. natural mountain barrier enhanced with additional fortifications

15. fortress/palace on hilltop with churches, houses, and shops cascading downhill
outer fortification

16. summary
Physical geography—the shape
of the earth, the location of rivers,
coasts and navigable harbors—
will be the primary factor dictating
the placement of cities.

17. city characteristics
• size/density of population
• structure of society
• artisans, craftsman, builders (making useful things)
• people who buy, sell, trade, and finance (merchants and
bankers)
• record-keeping and communication
• public buildings and spaces (for civic and religious
spaces)

18. social structures tend to grow "deep" or "tall" over time

21. teacher
student student student student student student
relatively "flat" hierarchy: minimal numbers of steps on the ladder
between you and the person in charge

22. These are oil paintings from the 1830s
made by US artist George Catlin during
one of his Western trips.

23. what typical physical features of cities do you notice in this city?

24. what signs of hierarchy can you observe in this painting?

25. mounds at Cahokia, IL
physical evidence of prior civilization

26. physical evidence of previous
society
• St. Louis was called “Mound City” in the 19th century, but
almost all mounds were gone by turn of 20th century.
• There is only one mound left, and a road called “Mound
St.”
• Cahokia also was partially destroyed, but with 4,000 acres
still remaining, it is largest archaeological site in the US.

27. who were the people who built this massive earthen structure?
what was their civilization like?

28. Cahokia facts
• located in fertile bottomland around Mississippi River
• largest structure is 16 acres at the base—larger footprint
than the Pyramid of Khufu—and 10 stories high
• constructed from 22 million cubic feet of earth (deposited
by the basketful by a huge workforce)
• plaza oriented to cardinal directions

29. • large outlying agricultural areas and suburbs
• 1050-1150 population and building boom in “downtown”
Cahokia, approx. 20,000 inhabitants (larger than London
at the time)
• stockade fence 2 miles in circumference surrounding the
complex; from tree ring dating we know when this was
built and it corresponds to a time of food scarcity.

30. “The idea that American Indians could have built something
resembling a city was so foreign to European settlers, that when they
encountered the mounds of Cahokia—the largest of which is a ten-
story earthen colossus composed of more than 22 million cubic feet of
soil—they commonly thought they must have been the work of a
foreign civilization: Phoenicians or Vikings or perhaps a lost tribe of
Israel.”
—Glenn Hodges, “America’s Forgotten
City” (National Geographic, January 2011)

31. Monk’s Mound, Cahokia, IL

32. burial excavation showing position of bodies, Cahokia, IL

33. what is beneath the ground?
• hundreds of thousands
of objects, suggesting
the presence of a large
agricultural society
• many are functional like
farming implements
• but there are also
musical instruments,
games, and sculptures,
suggesting a high level
of social
organization/stratificatio
n

34. Nursing Mother
ceramic figure/bottle
c. 1100

35. “Birger Figurine”
c. 1100
carved from bauxite

36. aerial view, Monk’s Mound, Cahokia, IL

37. reconstruction of what Cahokia might have looked like

38. artist’s rendering of the Grand Plaza at Cahokia with surrounding housing

39. artist’s rendering of family housing in Cahokia