To Find Progress and Innovation, Look toward the City

T he narrative of humanity is a tale of progress. For the bulk of human history, people survived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. The innovation of agriculture gave rise to permanent settlements and the birth of cities. Humanity’s main pursuit was transformed from one of mere survival to the establishment of civilization.

Chelsea Follett’s new book, Centers of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the World, published by the Cato Institute, tells the tale of human progress through the advancements of cities, from the dawn of agriculture to marvels of spaceflight and digitalization. Fittingly, Follett’s chronicle begins in Jericho, founded by the Natufian peoples around 9000 b.c. and widely considered to be humanity’s first city. It culminates in San Francisco, the heart of the digital revolution. But as Follett makes clear, “San Francisco is this book’s last center of progress, but not humanity’s.”

What made cities the focal point of innovation and advancement throughout history? Follett points to their role, first and foremost, as “great big classrooms, where we debate and learn from one another”; by bringing people together, cities fostered a wide array of thinking that drives both collaboration and competition. She identifies the evolutionary advantages of Homo sapiens as our problem-solving abilities. Because we evolved to view problems as puzzles to be solved, it makes sense that solutions are more likely to be found by many people trying together.

Solving a puzzle usually requires a process of trial and error, and that process lends a hand to progress. The higher population density of cities translates into a greater number of trial-and-error repetitions. But density isn’t the only urban advantage.

In the earliest cities, Follett notes, food storage played a critical role in ensuring survival. In contrast with the nomadic lifestyle, where food surplus posed a physical burden for people on the move, settling in one place generated a demand for food abundance. That abundance could be achieved only through more resilient and bountiful crops. Early agriculturalists — such as the Natufians of Jericho — eventually discovered that the crops they harvested closely resembled the plants from which they had initially gathered seeds; this realization of hereditary traits led them to cultivate crops with the most desirable qualities. As Follett explains, this “painstakingly slow process” unfolded cycle after cycle, spanning generations, so that “what started as just another kind of grass gradually became what we now know as wheat.” Through a process of trial and error, “when the Natufians began to plant seeds intentionally, they set humanity on a new course,” writes Follett.

In cities, the close physical proximity of individuals fosters a swifter flow of resources and information. Urban dwellers thereby gained a distinct advantage over their rural counterparts. But progress depended on the sociopolitical organization of those urban centers. “Most centers of progress . . . thrive during times of relative social, intellectual, and economic freedom,” writes Follett, “as well as openness to intercultural exchange and trade.”

Residents of cities, whether small or sprawling metropolises, have throughout history encountered hardship and strife. Yet such strife has often been the spark for innovation. In fact, the word “strife” derives from the Old French estrif or estriver, the same etymological root of the word “strive.” And in times of strife, city residents strive for better conditions. One major hardship of permanent settlements was the lack of sanitation or proper hygiene. Given that “waterborne illnesses . . . were once a common cause of death,” the “safe disposal of effluent to spare the water supply from contamination has proved to be a truly game-changing innovation.” In fact, as Follett notes, “it has been argued that plumbers are the unsung heroes of civilization.” In her chapter on Mohenjo-Daro, in modern-day Pakistan, she notes that the ancient city made pioneering advances in sanitation and cleanliness by establishing complex plumbing systems and large public bathhouses, long before the rise of Rome.

Writing about colonial-era Philadelphia, Follett describes the city’s printing presses as having “catalyzed the American Revolution,” as they went into action to produce and disseminate material, such as Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, that sparked the desire for republican government. Turning to the 20th century, Follett recounts that “when the wall that had divided Berlin was abruptly and joyfully torn down in 1989, the city changed human history.” Not only did it free “millions of Germans from poverty and despotism,” but the reuniting of the city “proved to be a pivotal moment . . . that helped millions of other people achieve greater economic and political freedom as well.”

As Follett’s discussion of the achievements of cities makes clear, the story of human progress is not linear. The English judges who formed British common law never knew of the existence of the ancient city of Ur — first excavated in the mid-19th century — where the oldest-known legal code emerged. Bankers past and present likely were unaware that the system of accounting — writing abstract symbols to account for a specified amount of goods — originated in the ancient city of Uruk.

“Change is a constant, but progress is not,” writes Follett. “Understanding what makes it possible for a place to achieve progress may help stimulate future progress.” Ancient cities may fall into obscurity, and the people who once inhabited them are long forgotten, but their enduring innovations transcend time, distance, language, and culture. This legacy serves as a testament to humanity’s remarkable capability for progress, even in the worst of times, given our innate desire to make life better. Indeed, this book is not just a tale of progress, but also one of optimism about human flourishing, as we look ahead in anticipation of our next center of progress, wherever that may be.