Angkor – Failed Pre-industrial urbanism

Angkor – Failed Pre-industrial urbanism, low density

Some may say that high density urbanism may fail, but low-density urbanism would succeed. This point is refuted with recent studies of the Angkor urban complex. Starting in the 9th century AD, Angkor was the capital of the Khmer empire in Cambodia. At the largest, Angkor could have been up to 1,000 square kilometres in size, supporting up to 700,000 inhabitants, and is considered the largest urban pre-industrial city ever in existence. The historical reason behind the collapse of this city is not known for sure, although there are theories that implicate the failing water infrastructure, which remained neglected by the local government. The governments of the past were unable to adequately provide the stability for a system as basic as water transport; how could they have been able to sustain a population of almost one million? One could also theorize that low-density urbanism is every more difficult to provide support for than high-density, as the same population or support requirements are spread out over a larger geographical area. There seems to be no level of government planned urban housing that can be successful.