The Pros and Cons of Urbanization

Paper Summary:

In 1938, Louis Wirth wrote an article about his observations and critiques of urbanization. While many of his observations are held to be true today, nobody can clearly define what makes up a city or an urban area. The paper argues that whether urbanization and industrialization are good is all a matter of personal opinion. While urbanization poses a threat to certain social classes and even the environment, it has also helped to evolve the way goods and services are made available to a broad area. The paper argues that ,if urbanization continues on the path that it is currently on, guidelines and boundaries will have to be put in place to prevent the destruction of all that urbanization has helped us achieve.

From the Paper:

"Alan Booth raised an issue of concern about overpopulation and crowding in urban areas. Urban crowding can affect a number of factors. First, the more people there are in an area, the more space people will desire due to the need for privacy. This can cause rapid expansion in what was a small crowded area. When an area expands rapidly, it can cause great environmental damage. It crowds wildlife populations and often destroys useful and fertile farm land or forests. Wildlife ecosystems respond with biological controls on fertility and birth rates that reduce populations and can lead species to become endangered in certain areas. The destruction of farm land is becoming more and more of an issue, especially in the mid-west where many of the United States' crops are grown. Land in the mid-west is fairly plentiful and peoples' desire for more personal space is leading real-estate developers to buy up land in the central U.S. and clear it for housing developments. This also applies to the metropolitan areas and some suburban areas within which the government provides housing (Booth 1976:1-10)."

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