Geographical Changes in American Cities - Assignment Example

Geographical Changes in American Cities After the World War 2, there was a rapid and dramatic change on the structures of American cities. The largely singular cities were transformed into small metropolitan regions characterized by small cities and suburbs. Besides, the American geography was also transformed due to a number of social, political, and economic forces. These changes led to the benefit of some American citizens whereas others were affected. This paper therefore aims at describing the different geographical changes that the American cities underwent, and the social, economic, and political factors that resulted to these changes. Besides, the paper will also address the consequences of these transformations on people living in American cities and suburbs. Over the past few decades, American cities have had steady changes. By the end of the Civil War, cities became industrial centers and access to and exploitation of natural resources improved. In addition, the pace of urbanization increased after this period. For instance, steel was produced in bulk thereby leading to construction of a vast railway network. As a result, trains became the main mode of transportation and thus many cities were created due to the expansion of the railway line. Besides, industrialization also expanded due to the exploitation of the natural resources. Increased immigration also bolstered the increasing population in cities. This immigration was primarily based on the people’s search for jobs in factories that were located in cities. Moreover, after the Second World War, there was mass suburbanization around major cities. This suburbanization was mainly due to the construction of an improved super-highway structure, which enabled the residents to commute to the factory jobs in the cities from the suburbs. Suburbanization also grew since workers started becoming financially stable thus affording to buy residential houses away from the highly populated city centers (Duany & Plater-Zyberk 11). Therefore, the suburbs represented an escape route for a number of people who had longed for a much quieter and less frantic life since unlike the cities that were characterized by excessive congestion, noise, and water pollution, expensive prices of goods and services among others, the suburbs provided a much cooler general atmosphere. Furthermore, the Post-World War Two era relatively spurred the development of technology and innovation. The American government funded research centers and increased the number of industries, universities, and colleges. These technological advancements led to the production of necessities such as plentiful and affordable electricity thereby encouraging people to live within and around the cities. However, a collection and analysis of data from the 1970 census revealed that most of the human population lived in the suburbs than in the city centers (McMunus & Ethington 335). This shows that even though suburbanization had been going on for a long period, this trend exploded after the Second World War. Equally important, during this phase, major city centers became throttleholds of both finance and corporate wealth management while manufacturing was mostly shifted to the suburbanized areas. This factor led to a recognizable change in the landscape of the urban centers not only physically but functionally as well. This shift of industries to suburbs was facilitated by the availability of marginal or non-agricultural which was preferred for the expansion and development process (Walker Art Center 23). Because of this shift of companies, most of the metropolitan or suburbs, started becoming inhabited therefore explaining the emigrational changes in the number of individuals that occurred between the urban cities and the suburbs. Comparatively, in 1970, America’s cities saw the spread of another system of urban development. Many people had perceived the suburbs as sanctuaries of conformism that contained a peaceful and serene environment. However, due to the increased population, the suburbs began to manifest some negative urban aspects that existed in the cities that were nearby (McMunus & Ethington 325). This affected the people who had moved to the suburbs to seek a quiet and peaceful environment since the typical suburb had simply become a part of the city. As a result therefore, many people moved to the surrounding rural areas where they mostly built single home residences. The residents of these places had relatively large amounts of land and most of them engaged in farming while others built ranches and kept animals such as horses. In addition, another socioeconomic transformation that affected the cities and urban areas after the Second World War involved the older middle classed individuals (McMunus & Ethington 320). Most of these individuals had retired and they were therefore living freely while enjoying abundant geographic mobility since they were entitled by the government to receive payments such as social security funds, pension and house allowances. They instead took the money and opted to invest it elsewhere (The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: an Urban History). As a result of this, the south and western parts of America which were less urbanized compared to the north and eastern segments, began to attract more elderly individuals who moved together with their children. This created an influx in the population of the metropolitan centers thereby spurring the transformation of many small and medium cities into large and major city centers. Due to the increased number of individuals in the urban areas after the Second World War, the local government saw the need of urban planning. There was a high growth of unemployment and poverty begun to strike (Wilson 130). The local government therefore focused on way of distributing employment in order to reduce congestion in these urban areas. Manufacturing firms and other industries were put up in the suburbia regions so as to cater for the needs and desires of individuals who resided in the suburbs. These processes enabled the cities to be decongested thereby providing a platform, which could ensure that there is equal distribution of employment and wealth between the northeast and south west regions of America. The social political and economic forces discussed resulted to different ramifications on individuals living in the cities and suburbs. After the Word War Two, an influx of individuals migrated and resided in the urban centers due to employment. This increased the population in the major cities thus leading to a spiral decline and disinvestment in America. This resulted to vices such as crime offences, unemployment and underemployment, poverty, decay and drugs abuse among the residents. As the cities continued to evolve therefore, the geographies of poverty and affluence have emerged. This problem was been shifted further to the people living in the suburbs due to high migration of people in these areas. It is therefore clear the government should come up with more appropriate ways of city planning to avoid to avoid a more problematic neighborhood in both the cities and suburbs in the future. Read More