Urban Cities In Octavia Butler's The Parable Of The Sower

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The word urban stems from the Latin word “urbanus” meaning civil man and “urbs” meaning city (Online Oxford Dictionary). Urban cities have several key attributes that are preconditions to successfully sustaining its citizens: a critical population mass supported by a strong economy and labour markets; an urban mass and scale that is liveable – meaning safe with modern public infrastructure, cultural programming and social support mechanisms engendering a flourishing metropolitan identity; and lastly, a clean and sustainable environment that safeguards personal health (OECD 2006). On the contrary, Octavia Butler’s dystopian novel, The Parable of The Sower, is a novel that paints a pessimistic view of the future of cities and is anti-urban.