Urban America Chapter 4 Summary

City life was changed drastically in the 1800s. “The most extensive urban renewal… took place in Paris in the 1850s. George Haussmann… built wide boulevards and splendid public buildings... Gradually, settlement patterns shifted” (250). Before, the streets were narrow and people didn’t have a lot of work to come by, and the reconstruction of the areas created many jobs. The poor began to live near the center of the city while the rich moved to nice neighborhoods on the outskirts. More improvements came about that made living in the city more appealing. “Paved streets made urban areas much more livable… Beneath the streets, sewage systems made cities healthier places to live… In large cities, single-family middle-class homes gave way to multistory

The industrialization of America had a monumental impact on the citizens. With change comes the upsides and the downsides, so there were critiques such as Henry George and Edward Bellamy. Also this was a time of change for woman, questions regarding ‘place’, purpose, and morality were too brought to light.

In the documentary “The ten Town That Changed America” Geoffrey Baer illustrates the evolution of ten popular cities of the 21st century America. Done in chronological order, the documentary explores how these US cities were developed by visionary citizens who combined, urban planning, design, and architecture to change the way people lived. According to the documentary, these planners had passion and great insights for urban development, although driven by different inspirations and motivations. But one thing was central to these people: to build an environment that would change the way people live in America.

The United States of America has, and will always be, a country where immigrants and refugees can migrate to, internally and internationally, to vastly improve their lives. During the late 19th century in the US, there was a massive influx of immigrants from all over the world, as well as movement of people already living in the US to different areas. These people were primarily seeking better job opportunities due to numerous economic issues in foreign countries and social tensions in the post-Reconstruction US. Therefore, the US became much more culturally diverse and areas were inhabited to form mini “hubs” for people of similar ethnicities and races to live together. Although internal migration in the US had a big impact

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

Inspired by european city rebuilding projects, American cities started clearing away older neighborhoods and creating grand avenues with impressive buildings. The only problem with the growing population was finding housing for the new residents. In Document 6 Nash explains how urban geography changed with emerging central businesses, few people living downtown, middle class residential areas stretched out beyond working class neighborhoods, and the growth of the suburbs which led to better transportation. Many of the rich lived in palatial mansions in the heart of the city while the moderately well to do took advantage of less expensive land on the outer edges of the city thus leading to what was known as the growth of the suburbs. However the poor could not afford housing in the city or in the suburbs and this led to the growth of tenement housing. Tenements were supposed to be great improvements in housing for the poor however they soon became known as “miserable abodes” that were overcrowded and had little to no indoor plumbing or central heating. The growing population also led to transportation problems. The downtown streets were usually too narrow for the heavy traffic that moved through them and most were not paved producing either a lot of mud or a cloud of dust. These problems led to what would later become known as mass

The industrial revolution was the most significant event in history, which started around the eighteenth century towards the nineteenth century in Europe. This great event was the fastest spreading event in human history. The capacity of economy and population growth was unexpected especially at the areas in which it flourished. The industrial revolution benefited almost everyone around the world and brought about new social classes, large cities and countless new innovations including medical discoveries especially in Britain, which based its scientific innovations on experiments and practical work rather than theories and logic, are the great outcomes of this still going event.

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. Nevertheless, the poor lived in terrible conditions, child labor was common, conflicts arose between immigrants and American citizens, and the government approved of rich people’s selfishness.

Society is fooled into believing in the applied connection among people. Benedict Anderson’s idea of imagined communities emphasizes that, “… the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion” (5). Members of neighborhoods, cities, states, or countries feel a sense of unity with other members for living in the same place or maybe having the same basic values, but true unity comes from understanding the similarities among each other, considering the impact a person can have on another, and caring about lives. Recognizing the importance of lives being socially intertwined is necessary to sustain a considerate society.

During the industrial revolution factories flourished and for many people improved their financial status. Factories and machines that could process food faster and in larger quantities caused some jobs to be obsolete. The umemployed migrated from their rural homes along with others immigrateing from other countries in droves flooding urban areas. Most were seeking employment and the ability to provide a better life for their families,. This rapid urbanization caused cities to become overcrowded and dangerous. The normal standard of living changed drastically. It was impossible to build homes as fast as people were coming in. . Some families were forced to live in warehouses or other buildings not meant for housing. People also lived

Thomas W. Hanchett is a historian, who taught urban history and history preservation at Young Town State University and Cornell University. Hanchett is now currently working at the Levine Museum of New South in Charlotte as the staff historian and he is also the author of Sorting Out the New South City. Race, Class, and Urban Development in Charlotte 1875-1975. The book is filled with his remarkable outpouring ideas that talks a lot about Charlotte during 1875-1975. He breaks down the content of the book into eight different tables and fifty-eight figures to help reader to understand his idea with a broader sense. In order to encourage readers to make connections to his report, Hanchett leads the reader to focus on his responses of questions that he brings up for his own curiosity. Have African Americans and whites always lived in a separate neighborhood? Why the workers started to live apart from their owners? What factors determined the patterns of Charlotte’s growth? These are the questions that Hanchett brings up and he would answer throughout the book in a detail manner.

Many individuals/Scholars tend to characterize the 1950s as a time of conformity, prosperity, & solidarity. While the 1960s was viewed as the decade of pandemonium, chaos & rebellion. These descriptions of both decades may be accurate. But many argue that there is a correlation between the two periods.

Gary B. Nash writes his piece, “Social Change and the Growth of Pre Revolutionary Urban Radicalism” as secondary source to articulate his thoughts about the poor living conditions in Boston, Philadelphia and New York during post war time of the later part of the 18th century. Gray Nash who is PhD graduate from Princeton University, produces concrete arguments to inform the people of the late 1960’s about actual history that conflicted with social development and advancement after the war with France and Native Americans. Nash utilizes credible historical documents to highlight the unbalanced and radical quality of life for city dwellers, especially around clustered and poverty stricken areas on the Eastern coast of the colonies. Even though

"The Revolution Will Not Be Supervised" by Hannah Rosin is an article written for The Atlantic and is about parenting. The article is in the subject of how overprotective parenting has changed our kids over the past few decades. In my opinion, parenting should not be as overprotective as it is now, and kids are suffering from this. This article is very well written and there are definitely parts I both agree and disagree on. The statement, "The idea was that kids should face what, to them, seem like "really dangerous risks" and conquer them alone. That, she said, is what builds self-confidence and courage" (page 2). I agree with this statement completely. Kids need to be able to take risks and feel danger. If kids never take risks, they won 't be very successful in life in general. To stand out, you need to take risks, and playing it safe doesn 't always work. Also, the statement, "Trust in general has eroded, and parents have sought to control more closely what they can: their children," (page 5). People now are nowhere close to people in the 1970 's. They are just not as close with each other. For example, I don 't even know my next-door neighbors ' names. I feel as though in this world today, we 've looked to the term "community" as something that 's on our phone screens, and not

Kingsley Davis, who is said to have pioneered the study of historical urban demography wrote his “The Urbanization of the Human population” in 1965. In his essay, he states that the history of the world is in fact the history of urbanization and then begins with description of how tiny European settlements grew slowly through the Middle Ages and the early modern period. According to him, urbanization occurred mainly because of rural-urban migration and not the other factors that people believe. He discusses how the production levels of this time period, due to the feudal system, used to favor an agrarian culture and then how the process of urbanization intensified during the 1900s, especially in Great Britain. He then clarifies the difference between urbanization, which he describes as the process of a society becoming more urban-focused, and the growth of cities i.e. the expansion of their boundaries. Davis describes the urbanization process as occurring along an S curve, beginning slow, becoming fast, and then slowing down again. Based on this idea of S curve, he predicts an end to urbanization.