This week’s lectures and readings have shown how the rapid growth and industrial development has acted as a double sword. Many different diseases have been cured while new cities have risen out of nowhere. This success has led to greater population densities resulting in more mouths to feed and cars to fill with gasoline which places a larger strain on farmers, city planners, and the planet.
The world’s population had grown rapidly. In 1800 the world’s population was about one million while in 2019 the population is about 8 million. Also, the world GDP in 1900 was 2 trillion dollars while it is estimated to be 88 trillion dollars in 2020, at the price of a dollar in 1900. These growths are exponential in nature. This is all possible due to great initiations in agriculture through artificial fertilizers and faster equipment power by steam, coal, and newer sources of energy. Though these impacts have expanded what humans are able to do it is seen that “industrialization and urbanization also caused the growing problem of air pollution” (Bayley 293) and other ecologic problem like invasive and endangered species.
A growing population due to the success of industrialization has led to many large cities developing quickly around the world. This quick growth has led to cities struggling to find room for everyone. Different ideas have developed from the 19th century’s grid styled streets seen in Manhattan to the 20th century’s designed to have a “flow” in and out of the city for vehicles like Robert Mose saw with creating highways over Manhattan which would have affected the poorer minority communities the most. As the population grows, cities struggle to keep up with the growing weight of more individuals while also struggling to combat new ecological problems that result when larger amounts of human and industrial waste are created. They also begin to see the problems of investing money into their communities while properly trying to prevent displacement of poorer communities.