The explosion in lidar surveys in archaeology over the last decade has dramatically altered how scholars view Lowland Maya cities, both literally and conceptually. No longer limited to pedestrian survey blocks and transects or opportunistic reconnaissance, archaeologists can now analyze the relationships between settlement, topography, and resources across complete swaths of the ancient Maya world. With these new perspectives, the debate over whether the Maya were urban or not is over. But what comes next? Archaeologists of the Proyecto Arqueológico Waka’ (PAW) have spent the last twenty years investigating the ancient Maya city of El Perú-Waka’, Petén, Guatemala, mapping its structures, studying its water management systems, and excavating its buildings, large and small. This lecture will synthesize a portion of this research, combining lidar and archaeological data to document processes of urbanization at Waka’, including its occupational histories, shifting settlement form and dynamic resource management practices. What we see is a city in constant flux, with residents continuously adapting to changing ecological and historical circumstances. So, while Waka’ exhibited features that we often would consider “typical” of a Maya city, its local history and physiogeography resulted in an unique expression of Lowland urbanism. .