Manuel de Landa Part 5: The Biology of Cities 1

FIFTH LECTURE: The Biology of Cities 1.

Urban centers have many different relations with organic entities. First and foremost, towns and cities have always been parasitic on their surrounding countryside for food. As cities develop and outgrow this primary supply zone they reach out to other areas. Some do it through trade, others through colonialism and conquest. Besides food, cities prior to this century also depended on rural areas for their supply of human beings. Not until the 19th. century did urban centers become net producers of people. Before that death rates were always higher than birth rates (at least for the majority of citizens) and most towns depended on a constant stream of rural migrants to grow.

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