Urbanization In The United States

Every settled nation will at some point go through urbanization – the mass movement to urban areas. In the United States, one of the largest examples of urbanization was in the time period 1865 to 1910. By 1900, almost forty percent of all Americans lived in urban towns and cities. This rapid movement brought about substantial change in all aspects of the country. Some aspects were altered more than others, for example society as a whole, the economy, and city government. Urbanization has had a substantial impact on city government, the economy, and society in the time period 1865 to 1910 through various contributing factors in each area. However, this impact was not always beneficial, and many times contributed to the detriment of the

When we take a look on our current life, we definitely will not be strange to everything surrounding us. But what if we lived in the past and traveled to the present, we must be shocked by this great urbanization in our city. What is urbanization? Urbanization is defined as the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more and more people begin living and working in central areas. In Boston, the government sets up a freedom trail that reflects the history of the United States. However, there is also a latest freedom trail that is constructed by my own, which shows how urbanization in Boston was going step by step. The core factors indicated by this new freedom trail are trade, immigration, education and manufacturing.

The relationship which exists between American expansionism, the "frontier" and urbanization is not hard to understand. It is necessary to see the concept frontier since it seems to be like a new term. A frontier is something that is said to be very important, which shows certain changes especially in a changing society. A frontier in American is viewed from the primary human aspects exist between people and the nature rather than people themselves. On the other hand, urbanization refers to a situation when there is a total increase in population people moving from city to town (Howard-Borjas). This paper highlights the relationship between American expansionism and urbanization.

According to the data from United Nations urbanization prospects 2014, in the early 20th century the urbanized population only accounted 15 percent of the world’s total population. Half century later the pace of urbanization rate accelerated and the figure reached 30 percent in 1950. After nearly 60 years of development, in year 2008 it was the first time that urban population outstripped rural population. Now in 2014 there has been 54 percent of world’s population become urban dwellers. However due to historical geographical and economic reasons, the level of urbanization varies significantly across regions. Highly urbanized regions include Northern America and Caribbean and Latin America with over 80 percent of their total population urbanized.

How did urbanization change the way humans lived? Urbanization was responsible for allowing members of the community to engage in practices other than farming. Pursuits such as construction, religion, art, and commerce were all possible with urbanization as society was able to focus on more than just survival. Walls and police and soldier protection allowed the residents increased safety, ensured compliance and spurred creativity. Urbanization encouraged specialization and permitted the development of tools and procedures that made work more efficient. Urbanization also led to the development of permanent structures and offered increased stability.

This chapter describes the urbanization process in the US after WWII. This is divided into two phases, which are post-war recovery and growth from 1945-1973, and reorganization of the economy from 1974-present due to the economy crisis.

Many people have heard of the first settlements and are aware of the early humans but many aren’t aware of the urban revolution. “The Urban revolution- that is features that set cities apart from earlier forms of human settlement” (PALEN, J. J. (1987). The urban world. New York: McGraw-Hill Book.) Two important characteristics of the urban revolution are permanent settlement in dense aggregation and technological evolution.

The Urban Revolution, written by V. Gordon Childe, is an intricate article that attempts to figure out when, where, and why the phenomenon of cities began. The article also gives a slight description of what a creates a city, mostly from a historical setting. “Throughout the Pleistocene period, all known human societies were savage in the foregoing sense, and a few savage tribes have survived out of the way parts to the present day.”(Childe 1950). Before the development of cities, the domination of farm lands existed. The largest villages in prehistoric Europe, comprised of about “...52 small one-roomed dwellings, but 16 to 30 houses was a more normal figure.” (Childe 1950). Something I find interesting in the article is that due to the small demographic, everyone in the prehistoric cities or villages had to contribute to the hunting. This was because the social surplus was not big enough to feed idle mouths. Childe went on to say that a city has a hierarchy. He stated that a city makes investments in the sciences and written system. One thing that stood out to me is when

As factories and mining centers where developed, cities and towns were built around them. People who live in cities usually live in large apartment buildings. There is good heath care, schools, but they are generally very crowded. Large roadways and railroad systems also helped to spread urbanization throughout the country.

What causes a city to urbanize? This is a question that people often wonder, however, the answer is not one specific reasoning, nor simple. Many factors contribute to the urbanization of cities, such as, an increase in population, a growth in trade, and the creation of a capitalist system- just to name a few. Another question that may be conjured up is, what is the result of urbanization? On October 4, 2014 I was able to take a trip to Chicago, Illinois with my urban sociology class. Not only did we drive through multiple neighborhoods looking at urban concentrations, growth poles, suburbanization and much more. Two distinct effects of urbanization in the city, as well as the most fascinating, is the homeless population, and residential segregation in the city. I think that these two topics are important because it allows us to see how economic, political and cultural factors have a rippling effect on different populations.

The process of urbanization first began in the more developed regions of the contemporary world. Almost a century ago, 1920 saw below 30 per cent of the ‘developed world’ in living urban areas. Only decades later, over half of their populace were residing in urban areas. Today, the

In both developed and developing countries of the world, urban centers have been an alternative center for human settlement and hence, the rate of urbanization is increasing at the turn of this century. Recent studies indicate that at the beginning of the twentieth century, only 10% of the world’s population lived in urban areas. However, currently, half of the world’s population has become urban dwellers (UNCHS, 2002). This shows that urbanization all over the world is expanding from time to time and the change has vast implication on the living conditions of the urban society. Due to rapid urbanization, the concentration of people especially, in cities and towns of developing countries increasingly aggravated the problem of housing.

In comparison to urban ecology, political economy is concerned with how urban societies work. Although, political economist developed different understandings and interpretations of how urban societies actually work. In the 1970’s the city had many social problems which included welfare, unemployment and tax inflations. Theorist of political economy, Marx, Engels and Weber viewed the city as a site of struggle due to unequal distribution of resources (Kleniewski, 2001). Therefore in contrast to the urban ecology theory of humans being immediately dependent on their environment, the theory of political economy stresses that the city relies not only on its environment but its social arrangement, economic and political functions. Also in contrast to urban ecology, residential patterns are not only influenced by humans just adapting to their natural environment but

Urbanization is an increasing number of city dwellers compared to people living in rural areas. Urban development in poor nations has resulted in multiple issues such as air pollution and health problems. Urban growth puts an enormous strain on social services. This essay will explain how rapid, uncontrolled urbanization has led to serious consequences in developing countries.

An urban city is characterized by a number of factors like shrinking spaces, high population density, changing family structures, etc. but another