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When we talk about cities or their lesser variations – villages, towns, communities –, we are used to evoking stereotyped scenarios that relate to streets, cars, buildings, and we often end up forgetting that there are plenty of other surprisingly unique patterns.
Many people study the cities and wonder about the exact moment when they were invented, given that they are open, unfinished works in progress. Some assume that their origin was due to the need for protection, which caused humans to quit nomadic lifestyles and settle as groups in a specific land to increase their chances of survival.
Such settlements can also be perceived as places with concentrated services – cultural, infrastructure, religious – that bring together different activities. In his book The History of the City (1980), Leonardo Benévolo stated that what defines a settlement is the overlapping of functions resulting from the various achievements of its inhabitants over time, which transform the urban environment, adapting it to their needs and interests.