The Story of Urbanization in East Asia

Wet field rice production leads to greater population density and greater interdependence. The island of java has rich volcanic soil around the pacific ring of fire, lots of warm, wet weather. You can get three rice crops a year down there out of a comparatively tiny postage stamp of land area. It is not efficient for every household to prepare all its own meals every day. And it is particularly inefficient in the era of industrial and post industrial prosperity.