Urban Sprawl Essay Research Paper Urban Sprawl

Urban Sprawl Essay, Research Paper

Urban Sprawl is a problem that will have severe consequences for all life if left unrestricted. The unrestricted development of the United States and the world is rapidly contributing to the degradation of our ecosystem. Moreover, if over development continues there will be massive human suffering. Air and water quality are in jeopardy and topsoil is being lost at an alarming rate. If something isn’t done soon to curtail rampant development there may be no way to prevent its destructive consequences.

In order to understand Urban Sprawl it is imperative to understand the history and origin of cities. The historic causes of urbanization and then sub urbanization can be linked to capitalism. Although many would argue that the first cities came to exist due to an innate human need for solidarity, these Neolithic cities, such as Mesopotamia were mere villages in comparison to the metropolises of the last 200 years. True cities emerge when one class of individuals dominates another in order to extract a surplus. Whether it be the nobles exploiting the peasants in the middle ages, or Henry Ford exploiting autoworkers in 20th century Detroit, it is exploitation for the accumulation of wealth that is the catalyst of the city. When development is based on the marketplace it will be designed to maximize profit rather than maximize the health and welfare of its inhabitants. Least of all, the capitalist city has the least regard for ecology. The result is a sprawling detriment to human and ecological health.

At no time was this more evident than The Industrial Revolution. Europeans and then Americans found it profitable to harness rivers for power. They built gristmills first, and then saw mills, then textile mills. Eventually, entrepreneurs would produce anything that they could create a market for. Along the way they exploited what ever was available. Men, women children and immigrants competed for the lowest wages. Of course the earth itself was also exploited. Rivers were harnessed for their ability to turn the wheels. They were also utilized as a means to carry away industrial refuse. Eventually, Coal and other fossil fuels would be extracted to power steam engines. Raw materials were also extracted. Metal, lumber, and several other raw materials were converted to consumer goods.

The Industrial Revolution transformed once agrarian communities into industrial complexes. The pursuit of the wage concentrated populations into urban manufacturing centers such as Woonsocket RI., Lowell Ma., Merrimack NH., and Biddeford Me. What ensued was a large influx of immigrants from Ireland, Canada, Eastern Europe and South East Asia. This increase in population simultaneously increased the density and the area of cities. Furthermore, by the mechanism that Allen Pred called the “Multiplier Effect” the increased population created an increase in demand for goods. Thus, cities grew rapidly.

The advent of efficient forms of transportation such as canals and the railroad multiplied human ability to exploit Earth’s resources and distribute them. This opened trade routes and created new cities. Some cities were formed based solely on these new forms of transportation. They were places to get off the train and spend the night, or refueling stations. Moreover, the railroads made it possible to bring raw materials from all over for transformation into consumer goods in the cities.

The economic opportunities of manufacturing was the catalyst of the great migration of Southern African/Americans to Northern Manufacturing centers like Detroit. Just as the increase in immigrant labor had been doing for 100 years the influx of Southern African/Americans created a labor surplus. Of course the mill owning Bourgeoisie took advantage of this surplus by allowing working conditions to deteriorate in order to maximize profits.

As conditions deteriorated workers united and the labor movement was born. The International Workers of the World (IWW), The United Auto Workers (UAW), and several other labor movements changed the way that workers were treated. Movements for safe working conditions, 8-hour workdays, and fair wages were successful. However, Corporations eventually circumvented this obstacle by moving their operations where labor was more exploitable. First they moved to the American South. Then, relatively recently, corporations moved to Third world countries where labor and environmental restrictions were lax if they even existed. The deindustrialization of the 1950’s has as much to do with the deterioration of the American city as industrialization had to do with creating it.

What remains are several abandoned manufacturing facilities. The loss of jobs results in poverty and the degradation of neighborhoods. Areas that were once the cosmopolitan areas of the cities become ghettos. Worcester’s Main South with its grandiose French Second Empire and Queen Anne mansions that are now labeled “slums” support this assertion. Those who have the means to leave flee the city for suburbia. The advent of the automobile facilitates sub urbanization and sprawl is born. One after the other rural areas fall victim to sub urbanization. It spreads out from the city like ripples from a stone thrown in undisturbed water. Suburbs of Boston are now cities. Arlington, Brookline, Cambridge, etc. are consumed by the city. Eventually the sub urb