The Challenges of Urbanization

Urban OpportunitiesUrban ProblemsReformers Mobilize

Urban Opportunities Urbanization: Growth of cities.

ImmigrantsMigration from rural areas

Innovation in farmingAfrican Americans escaping violence and discrimination in the south.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization

http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/070_immi.html

Americanization Movement

Programs aimed at teaching immigrants to be good citizens. English Government History

Programs to teach social skills and American culture

Urban Problems

HousingTransportationWaterSanitationFireCrime

Housing Problem:

Housing on outskirts = transportation issues Tenements- cramped living conditions in the

intercity with unsanitary conditions. Solutions:

Row Houses - single family dwellings that share a side wall w/ other similar houses

Laws passed to guarantee minimum standards of plumbing and ventilation.

Dumbbell Tenements – 5 or 6 story buildings with indentations for ventilation.

Row House Diagram

Transportation Problem: People traveled on foot or

by horse-drawn vehicles. Solution: Mass Transit – system

designed to move large numbers of people. Street Cars

Cable (San Francisco) Electric (Richmond, VA)

Electric Subway (Boston)

Water

Problem: Availability of fresh, safe water. Diseases like cholera and typhoid fever No indoor plumbing – had to haul water

from pumps in the street. Solution: Public Water Works

Chlorination in 1893 (New York) Filtration in 1908 (New York)

Sanitation Problem:

Horse manure, sewage flow through open gutters, air pollution, no dependable trash service

Solution: Sewer LinesCity operated sanitation

departments

Fire

Problem: Limited water supply to fight fires Buildings made of wood Use of candles and kerosene lanterns Only volunteer firefighters

Solution: Full-time Professional Fire Departments Automatic fire sprinklers in 1874 Replacement of wood buildings with brick,

stone, and concrete

Crime

Problem:Pickpockets / ThievesCon MenGangs

Solution:Full-time, salaried Police Force

Reformers Mobilize

Problem: Poverty in CitiesSolution: Social Reformers

Social Gospel MovementSettlement House

Social Gospel Movement

Social Gospel Movement preached salvation through service.Erected churches in poor

neighborhoods Persuaded some businesses to

treat workers more fairly.

Settlement Houses Settlement House - community

centers in slum neighborhoods that provide assistance and friendship to local men, women, and children-especially immigrants. Provides educational, cultural, and social

services Jane Addams – social reformer and co-

founder of Hull House in Chicago.

http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/newdesign/idabwells/

http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/urbanexp/timeline/timelinecontents.htm

http://tigger.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/urbanexp/main.cgi?file=img/show_gallery.ptt&gallery=5http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/aa/addams