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Overview:
After identifying the characteristics of cities, students will analyze the influence of geography on patterns of urban settlement and the role geography plays in the types of cities that develop. Students will create a list of different types of cities and then compare and analyze different Asian cities.
This lesson is one in a series developed in collaboration with The Asia Society, with support from the Freeman Foundation, highlighting the geography and culture of Asia and its people.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, world history, social studies, economics, art, architecture
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 2: "How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments on Earth's surface"
Standard 12: "The processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement"
Time:
Two to three hours
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access
- Paper, pencils, and colored markers
Objectives:
Students will
- identify the characteristics of cities;
- describe the influence of geography on patterns of urban settlement and the strength of cities;
- provide examples of the interrelationship between geography and human belief systems;
- explore how rulers use cities to enhance their authority; and
- analyze the role of cities in trading patterns.
Geographic Skills:
Asking Geographic Questions
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
This lesson focuses on different types of cities, their purposes, characteristics, and history. Begin the lesson by asking "What's a city?" After identifying some basic characteristics of cities—densely populated, pluralistic, permanent settlements that rely on surplus, specialization, and trade to survive—have students consider where cities are likely to develop. Then, as a class, discuss the importance of geographic features, including access to resources, defensive capabilities, ease of transportation, and potential for trade as well as historic significance and pilgrimage sites. Encourage students to draw on their own experiences of living in an urban area or visiting cities.
Development:
Divide students into pairs. Give each pair of students a physical map of a region in Asia and have them speculate about where they think cities might have developed and why. Tell them to consider any significant physical features that might impact urban development. For example, students who are studying the early river valley civilizations might focus on where early cities might have developed and why.
After students have noted on their maps where they believe a city would grow, have them cross-reference their maps with a map showing selected major contemporary and historic cities in Asia. Reconvene as a class to discuss reasons for the placement of the actual cities.
Some cities were carefully planned before they were built. Often the plan was intended to symbolize and reinforce the ruler's power and authority. Have students speculate how they would locate a city so it symbolized and strengthened the ruler's power and authority. Ask them:
- What would be at the city's center?
- Where would the streets go?
- Where would the religious buildings be?
Have students analyze the plan of Baghdad. Ask them how the plan gives the impression that the ruler was the authority. (Other cities that demonstrate the leader's power include Xi'an [formerly Chang'an], China; Beijing, China; Delhi, India; and Hangzhou, China.)
Tell students to suppose that a city was built as a commercial center. Ask them:
- What geographic features are essential for good commerce?
- Where would the markets be?
- Where would the streets go?
Have students analyze Canton (Guangzhou), China. Ask them:
- How does its geographic position and layout enhance its commercial importance? (Other major commercial cities include Kozhikode (Calicut), India; Malacca, Malaysia; Singapore; Hong Kong; Guangzhou, China; Samarqand and Bukhoro, Uzbekistan; Baku, Azerbaijan; Turpan and Shanghai, China; and Mumbai, India.)
Besides political and commercial cities, there are also planned cities that represent the people's idea of the cosmos or of the ruler's relationship to the cosmos. They are sometimes called cosmic cities. Many Chinese cities are planned "cosmic" cities, intended to express and maintain the ruler's power. Show students the plans of Xi'an, Beijing, and Kyoto and have them note the similarities in the plans. The ruler's sacred power, which radiated out over the city, was symbolized by this carefully laid-out city plan. Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, cities in the Khmer Empire, are also cosmic sites. Have students discuss in what ways these centers are replicas of the cosmos.
A fourth type of city is a sacred city, one that grows at a sacred site such as at the base of a sacred mountain or at a location associated with a famous person. Its development is often haphazard—as pilgrims gather there and merchants come to sell their goods, a city gradually grows. Unlike a cosmic city, which can be built at any site, a sacred city cannot be moved; the site is what is most important. Jerusalem in Israel, Mecca in Saudi Arabia, and Varanasi in India are sacred cities. Have students look at the plans of these cities.
Some cities in Asia were built up by colonial powers and were intended to support their imperial strengths. Lahore, Pakistan; Shanghai, China; and Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta, Goa, and Delhi, India; are examples of colonial cities.
Closing:
Have students examine maps of other Asian cities to determine if those cities would be classified as commercial, cosmic, sacred, or colonial.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Students will be asked to plan their own cities; commercial, cosmic, sacred, or colonial. Their plans should include a map of the physical area in which the city is placed—indicating protective geographic features, trade routes, or other aspects—and a ground plan of the city. It should indicate the public space, how it is used, and where the diverse ethnic or religious groups live. Have students share their city plans with the whole class.
Extending the Lesson:
Have students compare and contrast historical and contemporary maps of various cities around the world.
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