The story of cities

Most recent stories in The story of cities

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  The Guardian

  

  The story of cities, part 1: how Alexandria laid foundations for the modern world

  The Guardian - Jack Shenker

  In the first in a 50-part series charting the history of the planet’s urbanisation, Jack Shenker explores the ancient metropolis of Alexandria, which set a powerful precedent for future cities all over the world The secret to Alexandria, if classical historians are to be believed, lies in a golden …

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  The Guardian

  

  Story of cities #2: Rome wasn't planned in a day … in fact it wasn't planned at all

  The Guardian - Adrian Mourby in Rome

  The grid system which the Roman republic exported all over Europe was never employed in the capital itself. The city has always lacked a coherent plan – save for the monumental temple that once towered over it According to Tacitus, perhaps the greatest of all Roman historians, it was the great …

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  The Guardian

  

  Story of cities #3: the birth of Baghdad was a landmark for world civilisation

  The Guardian - Justin Marozzi

  The foundation of al-Mansur’s ‘Round City’ in 762 was a glorious milestone in the history of urban design. It developed into the cultural centre of the world If Baghdad today is a byword for inner-city decay and violence on an unspeakable scale, its foundation 1,250 years ago was a glorious …

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  The Guardian

  

  Story of cities #4: Beijing and the earliest planning document in history

  The Guardian - Oliver Wainwright

  The seemingly incoherent sprawl of modern Beijing is based on meticulous plans to bind citizens together under imperial rule. Conceived as a means of enforcing social order, the impact of planning remains strong in the city today In the depths of Beijing’s Planning Exhibition Hall, a big grey hangar …

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  The Guardian

  

  Story of cities #5: Benin City, the mighty medieval capital now lost without trace

  The Guardian - Mawuna Koutonin

  With its mathematical layout and earthworks longer than the Great Wall of China, Benin City was one of the best planned cities in the world when London was a place of ‘thievery and murder’. So why is nothing left? This is the story of a lost medieval city you’ve probably never heard about. Benin …

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  The Guardian

  

  Story of cities #6: how silver turned Potosí into 'the first city of capitalism'

  The Guardian - Patrick Greenfield

  The discovery of a mountain of silver (and a new way to extract it) transformed this remote Incan hamlet into the economic centre of Spain’s empire – larger than London, Milan or Seville. But then the silver ran out … “For the powerful emperor, for the wise king, this lofty mountain of silver could …