Modern cities operate under an economic theory that is less than 300 years old, and our theory of evolution is less than 150, so we don’t yet fully understand their implications. We have not developed an overarching meh to energize our cities, to permeate them with a worldview that aligns our economic, technological, and social advances with the

To address the issues our cities face in the twenty-first century we need both, seeing the world as quantum physics does, understanding that light can be both an individual particle and a collective wave. To thrive and adapt, cities need to enhance both our individual and our collective nature.

To administer its complex domain, Uruk developed more sophisticated counting and recording systems, and the world’s first writing.

That response reflects a larger general issue faced by all city leaders: the temptation to maximize benefit for an individual district, department, or company versus optimizing the whole system. From an evolutionary point of view an individual might do better in the short term by maximizing its own gains, but over the long run it will benefit more

To a volatile world of competing cities, Prince Henry the Lion offers a particularly salient message. He expanded his realm by widely disseminating free copies of his rules for ordering a diverse city. The best ideas for city planning and governance won, providing the tempering system that gave rise to a powerful network.

The success of Lübeck demonstrates important tools for creating thriving cities that apply to this day. Even in the Digital Age, businesspeople like to get together and gossip, trade, compete, and collaborate.

Cognitive science has now shown that the experience of awe is deeply associated with increased compassion, and the practice of ritual with social affiliation.

These two cultural practices, the belief in “big gods” and advances in agriculture, evolved hand in hand, and are evident in the foundation of very early cities in history.

The fourth quality of a well-tempered city is community—social networks made of well-tempered people.