How and why we have cities

This resource is an informative and entertaining video that explains how much of the human population shifted from hunter-gatherer to village and finally larger urban environments. It explains how and why cities came into existence and are a powerful instrument in the shaping of our communities and human behaviour. This video is an excellent geographical resource and a useful introduction into understanding urbanisation and the interconnectedness of humans. The video also includes several attached tasks for students to test and extend understanding.

Structure and features

The 'Urbanisation and the evolution of cities across 10,000 years' video provides:

entertaining and informative video with subtitles
a summary of how cities and urbanisation plays an important role in the human story
chronological explanation of the development of this important phenomenon (urbanisation)
recommendations to test learning as well as extend understanding.

For teachers

This short and well-executed video provides excellent descriptive information about the significance of urbanisation and the development of cities as products of human society. Powerful ideas and concepts around geography, history, civics and citizenship, economics and trade and technological developments are discussed. Teachers could use this video to allow students to identify ‘push and pull’ forces for migration to urban spaces.

Teachers could use this tool to:

develop a sound understanding of how urban spaces evolved
explore the role of trade and manufacturing in shaping urbanisation
examine population growth and increasing urbanisation
predict the future of cities and examine sustainability.

This source could be used to develop an individual investigation on one of the ideas discussed. The TED-Ed website also provides 5 multiple choice and 3 open-ended questions. A ‘Dig Deeper’ section provides more details about population growth and the development of urban places as bases for employment and industrialisation. A guided discussion is also available that could be used to extend student learning on how cities provide us with basic necessities.