 |  Environmental Science: A Global Concern, 7/e William P. Cunningham,
University of Minnesota
Mary Ann Cunningham,
Vassar College
Barbara Woodworth Saigo,
St. Cloud State University
Urbanization and Sustainable Cities
Chapter OverviewThis chapter chronicles humankind's mass migration from the countryside into cities. Urbanization, as this trend is called, had its roots in events described earlier. The Agricultural Revolution enabled people to live in cities. The Industrial Revolution provided the reasons for doing so.
Our species did not evolve in citylike settings. Is that one of the reasons life in cities has proven so stressful for many? Regardless, there seems little likelihood that urbanization will, or perhaps even can, reverse.
This chapter documents the magnitude of this shift and identifies the different kinds of problems that need to be solved in cities of both the developing and developed world to enable them to meet human needs. The biggest growth in cities into the next century will occur in developing nations. Building infrastructure tops their needs. Our own cities face a different dilemma: how to retain economic vitality in their cores.
For 2,000 years, city planners have tried to create models of cities that meet our economic, social, emotional, and aesthetic needs.
The challenges are daunting.
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2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education