Urbanization is as old as civilization. As societies change and develop, urbanization tends to be part and parcel of that development. In fact, the evolution of the city has mirrored human development in a symbiotic way. Mankind's chief glory has always been its cities. They represent all that is best in human endeavor: the ability to plan, to construct, and to live together in comity. Cities are evidence of mankind's ability to reshape the environment to better suits its needs, and to exhibit the best that can be produced by human hands and minds, not just in engineering terms but in architecture and the arts as well. Cities also act as crucibles of change; the way a society will develop is often first discerned in a city. They have been the birthplace of art, culture, and commerce and have enabled us to be who we are today.

There have been waves of urbanization throughout history, from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia to the flowering of the Greek citystates, through the rigorous planning of the Romans to the ad hoc mercantilist zeal of the Renaissance. The nineteenth century, with its staggering technological development, saw the Western empires establish new cities all over the world, invariably founded to control the flows of goods and people.

At the end of the twentieth century there was a seismic shift of wealth, power, and influence back to the East. Asia is experiencing its own renaissance as a center of world power, and now it is China's turn to engage in city building. China, of course, has a long and venerable history of urban development. Beginning as far back as the second millennium BCE, Chinese cities were ritual centers surrounded by artisan workshops in service to royal courts. The creation of a united empire under the Zhou Dynasty, around 1110 BCE, saw the development of large walled towns, and it was in the Han and the Tang Dynasties that followed that a pattern of centralized control was first devised that enjoyed an unparalleled duration and thoroughness. For more than a millennium, China's capitals of Loyang, Chang’an, and Kaifeng were among the world's largest cities.