All preindustrial cities can be analyzed as one constructed type

Evidence

In utilizing one term to cover all cities prior to the onset of industrialization (and many cities or sections of cities untouched by industrialization even today), I am following Gideon Sjoberg. In The Preindustrial City ( 1960), Sjoberg argues that despite their many differences, these historical and contemporary urban settlements were and are sufficiently similar in important respects to justify considering them as representative of a single constructed type. Type formulations, since they seek unity in diversity, always obscure variation. And it is certainly true that preindustrial cities, as historical entities, varied enormously. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 154

Categorization

• XREF: Sjoberg’s constructed-type method parallels Weberian ideal types; a good caution for the reader against overgeneralizing Cole’s urban portraits.