Introduction As the world’s population continues to migrate and live in urban areas, planners, engineers, and politicians have an important role to ensure that they are livable and sustainable. But what defines an urban area and what makes it so attractive? In my opinion, urban areas are places that consist of a variety of land uses and buildings, where services and amenities are easily accessible to the general public, and includes an established multimodal transportation network. Also, it should be a place where people can play, learn, work, and grow in a safe and collaborative manner.
Urbanization, or the growth of cities, erupted during the Industrial Revolution. Cities were a place of work, innovation, and technology. Over the course of fifty years (1850-1900) more and more people moved to the cities, which caused more and more problems in them. With these problems came solutions, and those solutions led to change. These changes could be good like movements to get cleaner water or having plumbing.
By 1900, that number grew to 1 in 3. By 1920, more people lived in the city than in the country. The impetus for this demographic shift is multifaceted, but the main driver was technological innovation which displaced small farmers and forced them to search for work in the city. One of the negative consequences of urbanization was increased pollution. Along with this came decreased sanitation.
American Urbanization started like a wildfire and it spread so rapidly that facilities and institutions in society could not keep up. From 1850 to 1900 America completely changed from its agricultural state into a new industry based society. The four paramount changes that occured during America’s urbanization period were new immigration, the build up of cities (skyscrapers and mass transit), living conditions, and boss rule and the rise of mass consumption. Even though the changes during urbanization did not come easily due to immense diversity, they still paved the way to modern day America.
The cause that lead to the Progressive era was the Gilded Age. Industrialization during the Gilded Age is what lead to urbanization and new ideas in the Progressive era. The Progressive era was a period of social activism and political reform across the United States during the 1890s-1920s. During this period, the Progressive movement was focused on eliminating corruption within the government. It covered social reform issues relating to female suffrage, education, working conditions, unionization, urbanization, industrialization and child labor.
- The importance of Harriet Tubman is, she was an abolitionist and freed hundreds of slaves out of slavery. She returned at least 19 times. The journey back to the North was known as the Underground Railroad. Tubman was known for her courage and for keeping the fugitives that she led safe. Also, Harriet was a spy, scout and nurse for the Union in the American Civil War.
Cities improve due to innovation, but humans residing in them may not. The Industrial Revolution was a period in time where new inventions helped labor become less taxing and more efficient in the South. On the other hand, the North developed urban cities, which attracted many people. Urban cities had become the epitome of civilization: ease of life and wealth was present, but not available to everyone. To elaborate, these urban cities provided job opportunities to women.
Urbanization in America Business and industrialization centered on the cities in America like New York, Boston, and Chicago. The increasing number of factories created an immense need for labor which got people in rural areas to move to the city, and bringing immigrants from Europe to the United States. Urbanization changed America in many ways but specifically in a social and economic way leading to today’s America. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, urbanization was increasing at a startling rate.
Overcrowding has been an issue for decades; however, due to growing population sizes, its negative social consequences are progressively worsening. Overcrowding is most commonly seen in cities and other urban developments. Cities attract people for many different reasons. As Steven E. Barkan, a professor in Sociology at the University of Maine, explains, cities provide it all: entertainment, cultural attractions, and employment opportunities (Barkan, 2012). Similarly, living in a city allows for easy access to public transportation, businesses, and other necessities.
2.1 Urbanization and river water quality Due to movement of people from rural to urban areas, physical growth of the urban areas occurs, which ultimately leads to the urbanization, Over the past several years, river systems have always been extensively altered to meet various human demands, which led to them becoming the most intensively influenced ecosystems by human activities on the Earth (Nilsson, et al., 2005 )]. ‘’Among these human activities, the influence of urbanization on river systems was the most significant, and 60% of river systems were changed profoundly because of urbanization in the world’’ as cited by (Nilsson, et al., 2005 ) Recently, a number of studies have been done to understand the effects of urbanization on river water quality. The study manifested on Pearl River Delta Economic Zone is in China, that there is a positive correlation between the rapidity of urbanization and the pollution levels of urban river water.
In a situation like this the responsible parties should manage these kinds of complex situations effectively. When the economy as well as the cities gets larger the complexity in these urban areas also gets large. There are many challengers that will create when the urbanization takes place. They are; • TRAFFIC CONGESTION This is the most important challenge that we must consider because this will lead to many other challengers.
Urbanization improves access to basic education for all. Expanding education systems in urban areas is easier and costs less than in rural areas. Thus Africa’s rapid urbanization is expected to increase enrolment, especially at primary level. Indeed, the nature of cities appears to provide incentives for investment in education by residents. Returns to education are generally higher in urban than rural areas—and so literacy rates and enrolment should be higher in urban than rural areas.
Urbanization To what extent is urbanization a critical driver of social instability, failure of infrastructure, water crises & the spread of infectious diseases? Urbanization is basically the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in the urban areas or a specific area, and the ways in how the society adapts to it. Urbanization can be a good impact to a country and has the ability to improve its economy and the life of people but it also has the ability to destroy the country and the life of all the people that exist there. GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE:
Many aren’t aware of the problem we have with urban sprawl. Everywhere we go we see farmlands and forest being destroyed to build houses, offices, and parks. There are many issues towards urban sprawl in how it affects our country and certain areas that could affect individuals. We already have many environmental issues we have to deal with like global warming, climate changes, deforestation, and pollution. Urban sprawl has increased certain environmental issues starting with deforestation.
“FGHI is a newly resettled urban colony in a big city in India. Most of the inhabitants were engaged in various informal economic sectors in their prior area of habitation. As they were made to resettle in a distant place located at the periphery of the city, many people got disengaged from their previous occupations. They are still searching for suitable employment or entrepreneurship opportunities.
