...America’s New Look as an Urban Nation When the United States was founded as a nation after the Revolutionary War it was largely agrarian in nature. Even when people lived in the village, that town was made up fewer that ten houses on average and only occasionally had other buildings such as a school, church, or small store. The people lived together for protection, and traveled out to their farm land everyday to till, plant and harvest. With the advent of the industrial revolution staring in the early part of the nineteenth century and then even more so with the information revolution of the 1960's onward people began moving away from the country and into the city because that was where they worked. There were enough farms to support the people in the urban areas, and transportation became easier with trains and large trucks. This rapid growth, from a farm-based economy to one that relied on manufactured goods and then today's serviced-based economy has altered the face of the nation. The Problems of Urban Growth The problems the country faced, population skyrocketed, and city government faced problems of how to provide residence with needed services and safe living conditions. The separation of people into different groups and how those people adapted to urban life during the transition away from their propinquity roots are all distinct elements of how America became an urban nation. When people begin moving closer together there are issues with the increase in people that...
Words: 946 - Pages: 4
...Urbanization Processes – Environmental and Health effects in Africa Panel Contribution to the PERN Cyberseminar on Urban Spatial Expansion by Kwasi Nsiah-Gyabaah, PERN Steering Committee member and Principal, Sunyani Polytechnic, Sunyani, BA, Ghana, E-mail: spolytec @yahoo.com Introduction Urbanization is increasing in both the developed and developing countries. However, rapid urbanization, particularly the growth of large cities, and the associated problems of unemployment, poverty, inadequate health, poor sanitation, urban slums and environmental degradation pose a formidable challenge in many developing countries. Available statistics show that more than half of the world’s 6.6 billion people live in urban areas, crowded into 3 percent of the earth’s land area (Angotti, 1993; UNFPA, 1993). The proportion of the world’s population living in urban areas, which was less than 5 percent in 1800 increased to 47 percent in 2000 and is expected to reach 65 percent in 2030 (United Nations, 1990; 1991). However, more than 90 percent of future population growth will be concentrated in cities in developing countries and a large percentage of this population will be poor. In Africa and Asia where urbanization is still considerably lower (40 percent), both are expected to be 54 percent urban by 2025 (UN 1995; 2002). Although urbanization is the driving force for modernization, economic growth and development, there is increasing concern about the effects of expanding cities, principally...
Words: 1746 - Pages: 7
...The United States of America is continuously looked at as the land of agriculture. The nation was built by farmers and agriculture. After all, over 900 million acres of land in the nation are dedicated to farming. Yet, the new technology discussed in Tammy La Gorce’s article, “How Does This Garden Grow? To the Ceiling”, seems to be creating an entirely new future for the farming industry. This new way of growing crops seems to be hurtful to the future of agriculture. Although it may strongly benefit the economy and workforce in suburban and urban areas in the future, the very thing the country was built on will ultimately become non-existent. Overall, middle America seems to be in danger if this new technology developed by AeroFarms continues to expand throughout the country. This new technology be present in urban areas throughout the nation, unlike actual farms. This means that there is a quicker delivery and expiration time between AeroFarms and urban businesses. At the same time, AeroFarms has the ability to grow “75 times the crops per square foot of growing space compared with traditional field systems” and uses 95 percent less water. By growing more crops and using a significantly lesser amount of water,...
Words: 478 - Pages: 2
...The Struggle of Canadian First Nations People Many first nation canadian families struggle day to day. This struggle comes from a long and drawn out process that Canada has put First nations people through in order to destroy them and their culture. though First Nation people have strived in order to make a better life for themselves in today’s society, many still struggle due to the problems that have hindered aboriginals for many generations. Some of the key issues that will be touched upon in this essay are: the comparison between urban privilege versus rural Aboriginal struggle, the comparison between aboriginal struggles today versus the struggles of previous generations, and the issues and horrors of residential schooling. The comparison...
Words: 908 - Pages: 4
...increase in the total population living in the urban areas through immigration to the areas and net increase in the urban population (Pacione, 2009). Although the processes of urbanization are similar among countries, there are still differences as the First world is defined as capitalist industrial market economies where the Third world is referred to states that failed to develop economically after independence (Pacione, 2009). The differences in the social and economic situations in the First and Third world as well as the different global environment have led to distinct characteristics in the urbanization process of countries. Understanding these characteristics is essential to the understanding the challenges faced by states in the process. Therefore this essay is going to discuss the similarities and differences between the urbanization processes starting from the eighteenth century up till now from the social and economic aspects in respect of the global environment. Similarities – Economic based urbanization The major similarity between the urbanization of the two different worlds is that economic development played a significant role in the urbanization process. Strong economic development is the main reason accelerating the process of urbanization. Take Britain in the eighteenth century as example. Prior to the industrial revolution in 1760, the population was only 11 million with only 20% of them living in urban areas (Office for national statistics, 2014). The...
Words: 1845 - Pages: 8
...Theorising the peri-urban As a result of the rapid growth of cities across Nigeria, peri-urban settlements, referred to as transition zones, where urban and rural activities exist side by side have experienced rapid alterations induced by human activities (Thando & Gwebu, 2013). Furthermore, to understand this dynamics of change in peri-urban settlements, different scholars have undertaken a myriad of studies with a view to explaining the patterns, determinants, impacts and policy implications of the spatial expansion of cities in the developing world. Most of these present-day discussions of peri-urban settlements emphasize patterns of change, mainly resulting from infringement from a neighbouring city as explained in their expressions....
Words: 1140 - Pages: 5
...of the United States than in urban areas, we could expect suicide rates to be a. higher in urban areas. b. higher in rural areas. c. high in both urban and rural areas. d. low in both urban and rural areas. 2. Sociologists use the term “social marginality” to refer to a. people who have little understanding of sociology. b. people who have special social skills. c. people who are defined by others as an “outsider.” d. people who are especially sensitive about their family background. 3. If social marginality encourages sociological thinking, we would expect people in whichcategory listed below to make the most use of the sociological perspective? a. the wealthy b. disabled persons or people who are a racial minority c. politicians d. the middle class 4. Following the thinking of C. Wright Mills, we would expect the sociological imagination to be more widespread in a population a. during times of peace and prosperity. b. among the very rich. c. among very religious people. d. during times of social crisis. 5. Wright Mills claimed that the “sociological imagination” transformed a. common sense into laws of society. b. people into supporters of the status quo. c. personal problems into public issues. d. scientific research into common sense. 6. The United States falls within which category of the world’s nations? a. low-income nations b. middle-income nations c. high-income nations d. socially marginalized nations 7. Countries in which...
Words: 976 - Pages: 4
...world. Increasing urbanization has triggered inequality and disparity between people as slums expanded outward their urban roots. Urbanization usually encroach the suburbs, leading to breakdown in rural traditions; suburban residents are forced towards non-traditional employment and way of living. Simultaneously, rapid urbanization did not lead to parallel industrialization development. The author does not believe that these issues of slums and perpetual poverty can be ameliorated through traditional financial aid by NGOs such as IMF or the World Bank; this crisis is unavoidable in the contemporary social, economic and political framework. Even though Davis makes compelling arguments using statistics and cases in many countries, his assertion is over-pessimistic on capitalism and is often too narrow-minded. In the first few chapters, the author begins with various statistics such as graphs and population comparisons in historical context from reliable sources around the world that assert the significant impact of urban migration. The author categorizes people living in slums into Metro Core and Periphery; the population influx from the core into the periphery leads to pollution, illegal activities and other negative influences. By chapter three, Davis started to assess the root origin of the rapid increase in slums; he claims that the unsustainable urban migration problem was aggravated due to the State’s failure to supply necessities for the impoverished residents. Various...
Words: 1143 - Pages: 5
...growing significantly in size and number with the continuation of mass migration. At the start of the 20th century only about 17.8% of the entire population of a third world country lived in a city, but today the proportion of urban and rural dwellers is approximately equal, in-fact today 3 Billion of the world’s population are urban residents, accounting for half the world’s population at the rate of a 180,000 people moving into cities each day (60 Million a year). It is projected that at this rate many of the cities in developing regions of the world such as Africa and Asia may double in size to compensate to this process. Rapid urbanization has presented a series of issues in the third world and has thus been a leading factor in shaping third world politics. Urbanization in the third world has drastically increased by as much as 50% over the last century. For instance Bangladesh has an urbanization rate of 3.5% resulting in 27% of the country’s population being urban settlers; which has been on the rise over the past century from a mere 1.1% urbanization rate. Urbanization was in part the result of population increase, both due to natural causes and immigration. This has been a common characteristic with third world urbanization. Drastic increases with urban populations with drops in rural populations, the process can be attributed into two categories of...
Words: 1796 - Pages: 8
...shaped the kind and conditions of work done in the developing world? To what consequence? Post World War II began a term where development of the new and old world became high priority. The developed world began to inspect new ways to attain additional global capital. The ensuing projects evidently served as a cultural hegemonic movement that promoted Western civilization cultural dominance. Hugely evident during the Development Project, the United States aided food impoverished countries, mostly newly formed nation-states that gained independence after WWII, by exporting food and other goods...
Words: 1470 - Pages: 6
...INVITATION: VALIDATION WORKSHOP ON THE PREPARATION OF NATIONAL HABITAT III REPORT Subsequent to Habitat II, the United Nations General Assembly will decide to convene the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development (Habitat III) in 2016. Habitat III will be one of the first global Conferences after the Post 2015 Urban Development Agenda and is intended to provide the opportunity to discuss and chart new pathways in response to the challenges of urbanization and the opportunities it offers for the implementation of the sustainable development goals. 2. A major pre-condition for the event is all Member States to prepare a comprehensive country report bordering on urban demography, land and urban planning, environment and urbanization, urban governance and legislation, urban economy, housing and basic services, indicator and case study and policy document, which will feed into the global report 3. The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Partners have initiated the process towards fulfilling this important criterion. This includes a consultative workshop which was successfully organized on the 5th of November, 2014 at the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS) to elicit inputs for the Draft Report. 4. The Consultants have successfully submitted the Final Draft Report to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for review and validation. 6. You are therefore kindly invited to a one day (1) Validation...
Words: 1171 - Pages: 5
...rustic to an urban social order due to shifts in global variants. It is a product of economic, political and social advancement that has paved the way for the emergence of large metropolis, cause a spike in the population density of the region. A survey predicted that half of the earth’s inhabitants would reside in urban centers towards the end of 2008 (United Nations). Intimately connected to the processes of modernization, industrialization and rationalization, the phenomenon has it genesis in the Renaissance period. Continuous attacks by the Turks caused the Christians to migrate from the east to the west of Europe. Consequently, the volume of trade rose and European cities besides the coastline progresses impressively. An additional push was given to urbanization upon the advent of the Industrial Revolution; the population density of European and American cities continued to intensify. For instance, the city of Chicago saw it population rise from fifteen individuals to over twenty million in a timeframe of seventy eight year. Yet, the phenomenon took hold of the Asian and African region only after sovereignty from colonial subjugation; in the first and second half of the 20th century, respectively (Howard Gillette Jr.). As mentioned before, the process of urbanization takes place when individuals abandon their rural lifestyle and migrate to developed cities in anticipation of a superior standard of living. This is typically the case with developing nations; residents...
Words: 3500 - Pages: 14
...not-for-profit purposes. URBAN SLUMS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: UNDERSTANDING THEIR ORIGINS/EVOLUTIONS AND METHODS FOR IMPROVEMENT Leanna Medal and Mark Boyer Department of Landscape Architecture University of Arkansas ABSTRACT: Currently, it is estimated that one billion people live in urban slums and the expectation is that the number will double in the next twenty-five years (Tibaijuka 2005). Of all the geographical areas in the world, sub-Saharan Africa has the worst record of meeting the Millennium Development Goals and has the highest percentage of slums dwellers as a percentage of the urban population (Hugo Ahlenius (UNEP/GRID-Arendal) 2005; UN-HABITAT 2003b). Many of the UN Millennium Development Goals could achieve maximum effects if urban slums were targeted for improvements due to the large populations they constitute. While some attention is being given to improving the conditions of urban slums, the progress is slow and there appears to be a scarcity of information about what is being done and if it is working. Slums have evolved from their origins in Britain‟s industrialization in the 18th century through the social reformers of the 19th century to today‟s slums, which are deemed unsafe because of a lack of basic infrastructure and services. Additionally, three cases studies of improvement projects in subSaharan Africa give some insight into potential successful improvement methods, however, much of these plans are yet to be implemented. KEYWORDS: urban slums, sub-Saharan...
Words: 6140 - Pages: 25
...Assignment 2 Poverty and Pollution Case Jaime Mesia BUS 309 – Business Ethics May, 30th 2013 Abstract Urban living is the keystone of modern human ecology. Cities have multiplied and expanded rapidly worldwide over the past two centuries. Cities are sources of creativity and technology, and they are the engines for economic growth. However, they are also sources of poverty, inequality, and health hazards from the environment. Urban populations have long been incubators and gateways for infectious diseases. The early industrializing period of unplanned growth and laissez-faire economic activity in cities in industrialized countries has been superseded by the rise of collective management of the urban environment. This occurred in response to environmental blight, increasing literacy, the development of democratic government, and the collective accrual of wealth. In many low-income countries, this process is being slowed by the pressures and priorities of economic globalization. Beyond the traditional risks of diarrhea disease and respiratory infections in the urban poor and the adaptation of various vector-borne infections to urbanization, the urban environment poses various physicochemical hazards. These include exposure to lead, air pollution, traffic hazards, and the ‘‘urban heat island’’ amplification of heat waves. As the number of urban consumers and their material expectations rise and as the use of fossil fuels increases, cities contribute to the large-scale...
Words: 1535 - Pages: 7
...industrial one. It is progressive concentration of population in urban unit. The traditional sector is viewed as a supplier of labor, whereas the modern sector is supposed to soak up its supply. Supply can’t be immediately soaked up because of the limited supply of capital. The Lewis model states that there is a surplus of labor in the traditional sector and labor is subject to diminishing returns and output is stagnant after a certain point. This sector is characterized by income sharing and disguised unemployment. Economic development proceeds by the transfer of labor from agriculture to industry and the simultaneous transfer of surplus food-grain production, which sustains part of the population engaged in nonagricultural activity. In the surplus labor phase, removal of labor from agriculture doesn’t affect the output or the wages. Industrial production expands without rise in industrial wage. But the increasing fall in supply of labor drives up the agricultural wages, also it reduces the output. To compensate these losses, the industrial wages have to increase. Labor moves from one sector to another on its own wishes. Classic theory of rural-urban migration is based on Harris-Todaro model. Migration in the Harris-Todaro model is viewed as a response to the sufficient wage gap that prevails between the two sectors. Not everyone can be absorbed in the formal sector at these high wages and the unlucky ones land up in the urban informal sector for meager sustenance. The decision to migrate...
Words: 774 - Pages: 4
