The Spread Of Urbanization In 19th Century Western Europe

Urban history, as a tool, has drastically changed our understanding of cities over the centuries. ‘Urban histories possessed an explanatory power far above the intricate workings of one city; providing larger narratives centered on industrialization or other macro-economic developments’.

This created overcrowding, disease, and the need to build more shelters to accommodate everyone. This in part, was the reason cities such as Manchester grew so large. However, the living conditions of urban cities in Europe were utterly abysmal. Disease ran amok in the streets, infecting people quite easily. For example, the city of Paris had narrow streets and buildings practically stacked on top of one of each other, leading to the same problems that most European cities at the time had. According to Edwin Chadwick, public health reformer who authored Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Laboring Population of Great Britain, “Diseases caused or aggravated by atmospheric impurities produced by decomposing animal and vegetable substances, by damp and filth, and close and overcrowded dwellings, prevail among the laboring classes.” In this statement, Chadwick encompassed just about every problem with these large urban areas. He also provided the effects of the problems associated with the horrid living conditions, for instance the effect of education would be much more “temporary”, and the population would not be as influenced by morality. Edwin Chadwick was a socialist, which should definitely tip the reader

Disease was common and easily spread across the city because all the people lived so close. It became an unsanitary place to live. Although, there was a positive reaction that influenced the conditions to be improved. There was more educated people who were able to care for others and treat them of their sickness. Document ten explains in depth why the conditions were improved.

Throughout the nineteenth century, the occurrence of the Second Industrial Revolutions assisted Europe into a new mechanical era, which allowed the inhabitants and cities of Europe to become modernized. Not only did the mechanization effect the people, but the adjustment of landscape for the European cities was required. With the augmenting amount factories and inhabitants of most European cities, there was a need for the metropolises to be redesigned. The main causes for the redesign of European cities was social, intellectual, and technological influences.

Opposed to some commonly held beliefs, European cities were not the paragons of development that they were written out to be. Stannard describes the squalid condition of the cities and the “poor’s holes” on the

Friedrich Engels thought that “filth and horrors of which surpass all the others by far” (Doc. 3). The cites didn’t have many drainage systems or septic tanks. This combined with mass numbers of people living in cities led to the horrid sanitary conditions. The pollution from the factories was horrid as well. Many people in cities wanted to stay inside where the air felt better than outside. Edward Chadwick thought the government should do more for the “safeguarding a normal span of human life” (Doc. 5). The conditions were so harsh in the streets that good water was harder to find. The sanitation was horrible in which nobody could get a good a good life and disease and suicide increased mortality

When working class people flooded into the city to work in the newly constructed factories, there was simply not enough room for them. As seen in source 2, the streets where the workers lived were overflowing with people, with everyone literally living on top of each other. Not only were the streets crowded but they were also dark, damp, and dirty. There were none of the municipal services we take for granted today, like sanitation, clean water, the police force or fire department. This meant that people dumped their waste in the streets and the water was polluted and as a result of that, there were huge outbreaks of diseases, like cholera. Especially through dirty water, the cities were polluted enough because of all the factories, but as seen in source 3, in Paris, shops would actually dump chemicals into the drinking water. Not only were the places the workers lived crowded and polluted, but the factories they worked in were dangerous. The workers in the factories had long hours working with dangerous machinery, and were usually paid badly at the end of it. They also had to be very punctual, but had no good way of getting to work. There were no trains or public transportation to take them, and many of the streets were barely wide enough to walk side by side. Over all, life in the first half of the 19th century was very rough in the

A. Society- As the cities grew, farmers moved to the city to find jobs and have better lives. Most immigrants settled in the cities together. This created many problems of overcrowding, poor housing, poor sanitation and rise in crime

In American industrial cities, late 1800s, Poor neighborhood were not the best place to live. With poor living conditions, poor sanitation and crowded housing, many epidemics of infectious disease spread into the poor population and touched even the wealthy class. Cities such as New York were crowded and workers were living in tenements, which were often cramped, poorly lit and poorly aerated. Moreover, these tenements lacked of adequate plumbing, therefore waste was flooding in the public streets. Streets was crowded of waste and garbage. Population was poorly nourished and has a poor life hygiene like water pollution and poisoned food and milk. Accordingly, infectious disease was the common death reason. Big cities had known outbreaks of

As big cities began to form in the nineteenth century, all ethnicities were close in contact. The workers in the big cities had no other option, but to live in the overcrowded apartments. In Manhattan, 42,700 apartments housed 1.6 million people (Tindall 622). The large amount of people led to health problems and the problems in the streets. The tenement housing was so poorly designed, so there were communal toilets. The toilets were held outside in the alley. The families were so tightly compacted, that the children had no place to play, so they filled the streets. Raw sewage was dumped in the streets and contaminated water was a major problem. The poor living conditions created a hostile environment for the immigrant workers and the American workers as well. The immigrants came to America because they heard that it was a great place to be that would provide them with all the essentials to help their families. Instead, they arrived in America and had to live and work in a harsh

This led to disease from contaminated drinking water. Crime and corruption ran rampant in these urban areas, whether it was political machines influencing elections or the absence of a police presence because of how large the population was. Pollution from the factories made the air smog ridden and generally unhealthy. Now with all these negatives it was clear some reform needed to be made, there already was a widening gap between rural and urban society. Urban society was beginning to be more progressive and ok with change, they were more secular and multicultural and had a more modern view on the role of women, more of whom worked in cities than in the country. While these progressive views would soon begin to spread rural society at this time was still very traditional with fundamentalist views on religion, combined with growing sentiments of nativism due to the feeling immigrants were stealing their jobs. Movements began in cities to get churches more involved in social issues some churches struggled to adapt and refrained from reforming. Liberal protestants wanted moral reforms and a less literal interpretation of the

It is important to remember that nineteenth century was the era in which Britain’s Public Health was introduced (Clark, G. 2005). The impact of the industrial revolution era generated a source of income for the government and the people, which resulted to an increase in the British and European economy (Allen, R. C. 2007). This meant that people were moving into the cities to be closer to factories for jobs; it also meant that new buildings were being built closely to each other with poor sanitary conditions. The building conditions were poor and damp, which then led to overcrowding and spreading of diseases (Ashton. R.J.2015)

There were also improper sewage disposals, which led to contaminated drinking water and people got typhoid fever and cholera. A major problem in American society was the separation by classes. You could clearly see the boundaries between the parts of town where the upper, middle, and working class lived. The upper wealthy class lived in the heart of the city in large homes and many of them had servants as well.

However, as America started maturing. Towns grew into cities, railroads were built, urbanization increased. Large families were an inconvenience was jobs were scarce, and abortion became more and more popular. Meanwhile in Great Britain 1803, the Ellenborough and Lansdowne Acts were passed.

Members of the European working class lived in crowded cities. Conditions were so terrible for the people. Water was hard to come by due to the pollution dumped in the rivers. The people did not have many ways to dispose of waste materials, which led them to throwing all of the waste on the street. The people had no sense of cleanliness. These people are not equipped with proper clothing. The homes they live in are damaged. “Their houses are so built that the clammy air cannot escape. They are supplied bad, tattered, or rotten clothing, adulterate and indigestible foods.” Many workers struggle with hunger and paying taxes.