The Evolution of Human Settlements: From Pleistocene Origins to Anthropocene Prospects

It is fashionable to believe that evolution has touched all natural domains except human beings, that humans are somehow above and beyond nature, are given dominion over nature, and stand in relation to it as a conqueror does to the conquered. By extension, evolution is not believed to be operating in human settlements and cultures. This book as a whole will bring these beliefs into question by describing and interpreting the evolution and development of human settlements, beginning with a review of the earliest scientific evidence about pre-urban culture and weaving through to today’s Anthropocene, complete with unfathomably large-scale and complex mega-cities and worldwide systems of communication, transportation, and exchange. Along the way it will describe and take a look at the inception, development, and transition of cultures and settlements around the world, thus making readers more aware of the wider variety of cultural choices that non-Western individuals and groups have always continued to pursue not in the shadow of the west. It will put forth and substantiate the theses that the human brain and its workings constitute a major adaptive advantage for all people and groups, regardless of their circumstances, and that many of the values, norms, and forms of social relations which have evolved at times and in ways not dominated by western influences are still available and have not been eliminated, even though they are not discussed in the west as thoroughly as they might be, that the long term trajectory of human settlements is unfolding toward a truly global culture, and that humans today therefore face a virtual smorgasbord of cultural options. The book will strive to provide enough conceptual and theoretical background, together with enough historical and substantive knowledge about the history and evolution of selected human settlements, to be of use in consideration of plans, policies and decisions that affect urban governance and futures today. It will seek to make clear that the real drama unfolding in human settlements is by no means exclusively about the control of financial or other capital nor about the advancement of technology. It is also, and perhaps more importantly in the long run, about the ideas, social relations, institutions and moral frameworks around which human societies organize themselves, the language used to communicate about them, and the ways they interact with the social transformations that characterize human responses to the problems of human life. We will make the point that human settlements and their institutions have since their inception continually changed, sometimes for the better and sometimes not, and that today’s settlements are no different in this regard. The underlying logic of the evolutionary concepts and theory will all us to construct a perspective on the commonalities that run throughout settlements and cultures, as well as the differences between them, and one that will expose human fallibility and mental limitations, such as those recognized by the concept of bounded rationality, along with all of the implications this brings for moral reasoning, thus providing an account of conceptual change as well as the importance of learning to create and develop corresponding frameworks with which to bring today’s large scale, complex human settlements meaningfully within the purview of the human mind. The themes that will tie the book together will include (a) human settlements are natural phenomenon and therefore require natural explanations supported by the best available evidence, (b) the best and most complete explanations for today’s human settlements must include considerations that span both the long term and short term, (c) one theoretically coherent way to include both of these sets of considerations may be found in a Neo-Darwinist approach to coming to know and understand human settlements, such as the ones set forth by Karl Popper, Stephen Toulmin, David Hull and Donald Campbell (according to which the origins of variation are random, and occur through trial-and error processes, and on the basis of which explanations for human settlements must not be teleological in nature), (d) human settlements have evolved from simpler, and smaller scale phenomenon to more complex and larger scale ones, and (e) the evolution of human settlements has gone on hand-in-hand with the development of institutions, language and the emergence of new forms of relationships, moral reasoning and consciousness, especially those based upon the imagination, on one hand, and science, on the other, in which we assert may be found the greatest hope for the continued development, future prosperity and progress of humankind.