In looking to our past, a curious trend appears. A vast amount of mankind's great accomplishments in art, music, science, technology and language seem to emerge from a relatively small number of cities: Athens, Hangzhou, Florence, Rome, Calcutta, Vienna, and Silicon Valley-- just to name a few.
But the reasons these locations gave rise to so much advancement remain a source of debate. What multitude of factors must converge to make an otherwise un-notable city become a hub of creative genius? This hour we speak with geographers, and cultural historians to unravel this ancient and ongoing mystery.
GUESTS:
- Eric Weiner - Speaker and author of several New York Times best sellers including The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley
- Maximillian Schich - Associate Professor of Arts and Technology and head of the Cultural Science Lab at University of Texas at Dallas, lead author of A Network Framework of Cultural History
- Joel Kotkin - Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in California and Executive Director of the Center for Opportunity Urbanism; author of The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us
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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
