History of the Cities

HISTORY OF THE CITIES

Watch as the world’s cities are born one-by-one over 6000 years

June 15, 2016

Watch as the world’s cities are born one-by-one, beginning with [arguably]
the very first city in 3700 BC and continuing up to the present.

Use the controls at the bottom to pause/resume the map and to move back and forth in time

The history of urbanization, 3700 BC – 2000 AD (full-screen version)

full screen / video

By 2030, 75 percent of the world’s population is expected to be living in cities.
Today, about 54 percent of us do. In 1960, only 34 percent of the world lived in cities.