Full-Service Urbanized Areas
Popular discussion of Native American communities overlooks the large, urbanized cities, with houses, shopping, multi-story buildings, roads and dedicated paths, and government. These were trade centers built near riverways for ease of transportation and abundance of resources. Traders from many regions and communities would share goods, ideas, technologies, and spirituality with cities along these riverways.
The architecture of these cities reflects the Native American tradition of using locally sourced materials. Cities also used the common architectural styles of their region. For instance, the city of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico reflects the adobe Pueblo style of the nearby territory. While culturally the cities weren’t much different than smaller villages and hamlets, they were larger, more densely populated. They had to provide services to more people. Cities had to plan for things like water, waste disposal, roads, and other functions on a much larger scale than smaller communities.
