This refers to the historic transition of small agricultural societies into large urban societies. It was coined by Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe in his 1936 book Man Makes Himself. In his 1950 paper on the same subject, Childe came up with ten qualities, including the size of settlements, social stratification, wealth distribution and trade relations, that helped distinguish urban societies from agricultural societies. The urban revolution, he believed, was brought about by the advent of modern technology which helped to improve overall production capabilities and living standards in these societies.
