Most cities are built in some sort of social and governmental framework.

That's how towns/cities are eventually organized upon reaching a certain scale, yes... but that is not how they are initially formed in the vast majority of cases. There is no central planning which brings a large group of people to an area. The rare attempts to start cities in that fashion in China failed spectacularly.

It's quite obvious which part is the egg and which the chicken.

People are drawn to areas for a variety of reasons. A more localized government is merely a rational reaction to the needs of a large community, a form of organization after the fact (or merely a result of following established standards and practices, rather than rational need).

What is distinct in this story seems to be the absence of government following the initial growth phase. Maybe due to a lack of stable functioning economic systems which incentivize the organization of municipal governments.

But the cities and infrastructure which we live in are very much the result of people who were initially just 'doing it on their own' before formalizing systems of organization. I know it's trendy to dismiss pioneers and frontiersmen who built western society but this seems like praising a step backwards.

You seem to be caught up on the idea that they are being "praised." Did you read the whole article. I think you went into with this preconceived notion that is something that it isn't. Also, it is true that cities started perhaps in a way that you describe but very rarely has something like on this on this scale occurred in recent history. There's also different reasons that Western frontiersmen. Anyway, I think it is an interesting update on rather unusual situation, I mean over 200,000 people, that's tremendous; also potential for opportunity.

Weren't many cities formed around forts of a large government? Off the top of my head, I can think of London being founded by the Romans.

But maybe thats actually wrong and there was a settlement on the Thames that the Romans rode roughshod over the memory of.