How did Gideon Sjoberg distinguish preindustrial cities from industrial cities?

In his 1960 work, The Preindustrial City, Past and Present, sociologist Gideon Sjoberg distinguished between preindustrial and industrial cities primarily based on a society's level of technology.1

Sjoberg categorized these urban centers as follows:

• Preindustrial Cities: Found in societies lacking sophisticated machine technology, these cities rely on human and animal labor for economic production. Their primary function is typically imperial administration rather than industrial manufacturing. Socially, these cities are characterized by strong family connections and neighborhoods integrated through personalistic ties of ethnicity and sectarian allegiance, with little evidence of social disorganization. Sacred institutions, such as churches, often dominate both the skyline and the cultural beliefs of the population.1
• Industrial Cities: Predominant in modernized nations, these cities utilize fossil fuels and atomic power to significantly expand economic productivity. Unlike their preindustrial counterparts, their primary focus is industrial production.1

While Sjoberg’s typology was a significant advancement in urban scholarship, it has been noted for overgeneralizing by collapsing diverse historical and contemporary urban cultures into a single, undifferentiated preindustrial category.1