Shock City Urbanization

A shock city is the urban place that represents a massive and rapid changes in social, economic, and cultural life (urbanization) due to many factors, including new models of transportation such as railroads, industrialization, and other factors. The first city that was considered the “shock city” was actually Manchester, England. It grew very quickly, and it was the world’s first industrialized city and the home of the cotton industry, cottonopolis - a metropolis centered on cotton trading. Same as Manchester, Chicago was also the “shock city” of North America because of its rapid growth. Both cities were industrial cities, Chicago rose from a struggling village sunk in the middle of a grassland creek to a metropolis city. Between 1830 to

The first city that was considered the “shock city” was actually Manchester, England. It grew very quickly, and it was the world’s first industrialized city and the home of the cotton industry, cottonopolis - a metropolis centered on cotton trading. Same as Manchester, Chicago was also the “shock city” of North America because of its rapid growth. Both cities were industrial cities, Chicago rose from a struggling village sunk in the middle of a grassland creek to a metropolis city. Between 1830 to 1880 (fifty years) the city’s population grew from five hundred thousands to three point four millions of populations. Many Northern businessmen stayed in Chicago and the city grew rapidly from only real estate speculation and the realization that the city had an advantageous position which is good for the transportation network, such as, railroads and lake traffic. With the opening of the Illinois and Michigan Canal in 1848, it allowed shipping from the Great lake to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico through Chicago. Within the same year, the first rail lane to Chicago, the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was completed. By the 1850’s Chicago became the nation’s major transportation hub because of the construction of railroads and it has became the home for shipping companies which used the transportation lanes to ship all over the nations. Many factories were also created during that time, most famously the harvester factory created by McCormick. Because of the expansion of the railroads throughout the upper Midwest and east, the manufacturing and retail sectors grew rapidly and also it became the dominant Midwestern center for industrialization, such as manufacturing, commerce, and finance. And Chicago has also