Göbekli Tepein Anatolia, Turkey is the world’s oldest known human settlement. At 11,500 years old, its founding marked the beginning of our species’ transition from small groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers, to complex societies within ever-growing communities.

From there, it’s been a one-way street.

By some accounts, Rome became the first city in history to have over 1 million inhabitants in 133 BC. By 1500, 1 in 25 people lived in towns and cities. Then, the industrial revolution sent this process into overdrive, bringing huge numbers of people to the cities in search of manufacturing jobs. At the turn of the twentieth century, London became the world’s first “mega-city” achieving 5 million inhabitants.

As of 2018, 55% of us lived in urban areas, a trend projected to reach two-thirds of the world’s population within the next few decades.

However, technological changes just around the corner may reverse this trend, changing where we live and how human societies are structured.

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