Experiencing Cities, by Mark Hutter

    Dr. Hutter, a sociology professor from Rowan University, introduces his book with a subject that will surely end up in the history books; the growth of the megacities, which seem to spring up overnight. Whereas in 1950 there were only 75 cities with 1,000,000 people, there are now over 400. With the growth of the megacities, we also have something called the mega slum. While shantytowns are nothing new (anyone remember the “Hoovervilles” of the 1930’s?) they have reached epic proportions in the last 15 years. He gives an example in Mumbai’s Dharavi neighborhood, a shanty with its own informal economy, and the setting for the movie Slumdog Millionaire. The reasons behind the growth of the city population is heavily discussed in this book, and the author explores the urban migration from all angles, using more examples than I can count. One of the more humorous ones is an obscure German doctrine where a serf could become free and equal within a year of moving into a city. It’s an answer to one of the often-asked question, of why people will take the risk of migration, coupled with the hazards of inner-city living.

    Dr. Hutter makes this book very attractive to educators by putting special questions in each section, enhancing the discussion. In the first chapter, he suggests drawing an image of your neighborhood, using the sights that you know well. For another, you imagine that you have an island, and decide what you would do about food, housing, sanitation, sewage, etc. When he suggested the map project, I remembered something about navigating streets in London; the cab drivers memorize hundreds of landmarks, which they use to navigate the winding ancient streets!

    While teaching a class of 5^th graders, I asked them to identify one unique thing about a city, and they all said “big buildings.” This is probably true for every city, and Dr. Hutter devotes a chapter to the skyscraper, which I am proud to say is an American invention (to New York and Chicago in particular.) One of the greatest (and scariest) skyscrapers in the world is the Makkah Hotel in Mecca, a 1,900-foot tower topped with a mega-clock that makes Big Ben look like a wristwatch. Since it towers a quarter of a mile above the Kaaba, you can say it rivals the accomplishments of the God they worship at the site. These mega-buildings have an obvious symbolic quality, as a display of wealth for the owner or a source of pride for the city.

    Dr. Hutter discusses city origins, life, growth, health, and demise. Some cities have industry, others gain revenue from tourism, some in the USA probably depend on a local college. There are cities that have lost their population – Detroit, Philadelphia, Camden, East St. Louis, and New Orleans – while New York, San Francisco, and Boston have mushroomed. The change in health has also played a role in the increase of cities in China, Arabia, and India, now that infant mortality rates have dropped.

    My only criticism of this book is that it’s too big. It should’ve been broken down into smaller ones, with each book focusing on a different aspect of city life, origins, governance, benefits, and drawbacks. It could be the basis for a wonderful documentary series on the Discovery Channel, or a series of National Geographic articles. I would love to see a junior version of this book to use in high school classrooms, as it’s a rarity to find anything like this, both educational and highly enjoyable.