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We are a transdisciplinary collaboration of researchers and institutions seeking to establish a theoretical and empiricalÌýbasis for the study of human settlements through history. Although we acknowledge the tremendous variety in human societies and histories, our goal is to identifyÌýcommon properties of all human settlements, and general processes of growth andÌýdecline, in a framework that accommodates both regularity and contingency. We refer to human settlements as social reactors due to their role inÌýconcentratingÌýand acceleratingÌýsocial interactions and their outcomes in space and time.ÌýThis view derives fromÌý research and the discovery that some emergent properties ofÌýmodern cities are also apparent in pre-modern and even non-urban settlements.

Models

Our approach builds from simple models of social networks embedded in space. Here we show a representation of an amorphous (A) and a 'networked' (B) settlement.

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Based on these findings, we are developingÌýa framework that:

  • Frames all human settlements, from hunter-gatherer camps to modern megacities,Ìýas concentrations of people, things, energy and information in space and time, and subject to a variety of constraints;
  • Leads to quantitative predictions regardingÌýrelationships between proxy measures ofÌýsettlement populationÌýand a variety of social, economic and infrastructural quantities;
  • Dissolves the boundary between past and present by viewing all human societies as evolving social and material networks;
  • Accounts for the differences between settlementsÌýin terms of a set of basic energetic, cultural and technological processes; and
  • Charts a course for expandingÌýthe comparative study of settlements through history.

Our work is driven by an interplay among theorizing, model building, data assembly and empirical validation. ItÌýillustrates the applicabilityÌýof archaeological and historical dataÌýto contemporary issues, including the effects of agglomeration, the sources of economic growth,Ìýand the design and sustainability of cities. It is also informed by, and contributes to, the ongoing efforts of economists, geographers and urbanists to build a rich synthetic understanding of urban life.