Early American Cities: European Influences and Unique Developments - Prof. Murray D. Rice, Study notes of Urbanization

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Rice and more Study notes Urbanization in PDF only on Docsity! 1 Urban Foundations Cities in America to 1945 Early American Cities The design of early American cities was highly influenced by European traditions The roots of many of these traditions can in turn be traced to Greek and Roman ideas about cities and city planning However, the situation surrounding the development of American cities makes these cities unique Early American Cities Early American cities (circa 1600) functioned primarily as colonial outposts Strong trading ties to the “mother country” The very earliest cities on the continent were dominated by the economic function – little thought given to “ideal” plans or hierarchical social order Early American Cities Earliest American values Spirit of individualism Equality: uniform size land lots (at least to start) L i it i t i i bli ow pr or y g ven o mpos ng pu c facilities (contrast with European cities of the same period) Emphasis on survival and getting the job done Guilford, Vermont 2 Early American Cities However, out of this situation, the predominantly European roots of American society began to assert themselves through the decades Through the 1600-1790 period, America adapted European city forms to the New World’s unique challenges and opportunities Case Study: New York One of the cities we will spend some time thinking about in this course is New York A city that is somehow, simultaneously, the best example of the American city and a city unlike any other American city Q: How many of us have been to New York? What impressions do we have of the city? How is it similar to other US cities? How is it different from other US cities? Case Study: New York New York is a good example of city development in the Americas, beginning with its colonial roots and going right up to the present day ll d d hWe wi view a vi eo case stu y now t at focuses on the earliest period of European settlement on the site of New York I will pass out a question sheet to guide your viewing of the video Along with the specific facts we gain about NY, please also think of this as a good example of what happened in other places The Mercantile Epoch In many ways, a city growth focus was necessary for the survival of the early US Towns and cities in the former colonies were mainly linked to Europe through trans Atlantic trade- Few links among American urban centers To build a nation, American cities needed to develop as an integrated system, not as separate and unconnected units “United we stand, divided we fall” The Mercantile Epoch Q: what would you have done if you were in charge of leading the creation of an integrated urban system in 1790s America? Any specific steps come to mind? The Mercantile Epoch Specific steps in the development of an American urban system included Design and construction of a new national capital in Washington, DC E t bli h t f ti t d its a s men o an en re own- an c y- based system of government (county seats, town halls, state capitals) Westward expansion and the maturation of former frontier towns (St Louis, Santa Fe) into fully-functioning central places that serve their regions 5 The Mercantile Epoch The Mercantile Model outlines processes that built the American urban system The same processes also changed the urban systems of the European nations that initiated exploration Key feature for Europe: the accentuation of key cities that were tied to development in America (port cities, industrial cities connected to American commodities) Europe’s urban system changed along with America’s Emerging Industrial Cities The last turn of the century (circa 1900) was a pivotal time in the development of cities in America Two key, linked occurrences 1. Development of a real, domestic industrial base, and 2. Maturation of urban places from frontier towns to full-fledged cities Emerging Industrial Cities Other factors that also contributed to American industrialization Mechanization of farming, leading to fewer rural jobs and rural-to-urban migration Hi h l l f i lt l d ti g eve s o agr cu ura pro uc on, meaning that small numbers of farmers could feed growing urban populations Great influx of immigrants, contributing to an already-growing urban labor force 6 Emerging Industrial Cities Other factors that also contributed to American industrialization The advantages of economies of scale, that allowed manufacturers to achieve tremendous cost-efficiencies in serving a growing, national market The advantages of external economies, where cities themselves create a situation that encourages the rapid growth of firms Emerging Industrial Cities A key characteristic of urban-economic systems that have emerged since 1800 is the geographic variation we see in development levels The core-periphery model captures some important elements in this spatial variation Wealthy, developed, growing core Poor, needy, stagnating periphery Emerging Industrial Cities Researchers have invested much effort in understanding the differences between core and periphery: what makes core regions so dynamic? One explanation involves the business linkages that exist in the community How connected a business network does a community possess? Emerging Industrial Cities Two key types of business linkages 1. Backward linkages: suppliers to the main, propulsive industry of a region (back from the industry to its suppliers) Q: Think of any examples for D-FW? 2. Forward linkages: companies that take the outputs of the main industry and further refine/value-add (forward from the industry to further markets) Q: Any examples? A growing, dynamic regional economy has a surplus of both types of links Emerging Industrial Cities Many local linkages = a regional economy that encourages growth Q: Why? In what way would an economy with low local linkages be poorly positioned for economic growth? Observation: core regions of the world (such as the northeastern US) are characterized by high levels of local interlinkages Emerging Industrial Cities The combined impact of linkages can be summarized in a further concept: the multiplier effect Growth creating more growth Example: a local business expands, hiring 1000 more employees How many more people are working in the local region once this hiring is completed? Answer: it depends on the level of local interlinkage, but it will certainly be more than 1000 net new jobs 7 Emerging Industrial Cities Methodologies exist to calculate the multiplier for each city For a given new investment (dollars, jobs), what growth results locally? M h t th d duc con roversy over me o s use Concept can be abused to make a political point (such as the spin-off value of building a new public facility, such as a stadium) Emerging Industrial Cities Although growth and economic development were central to American cities in this period, important to acknowledge another set of forces at k di iwor : seconom es Diseconomies of scale: inefficiencies with too much growth External diseconomies: inefficiencies from too much urban influence Emerging Industrial Cities Important to acknowledge that for every economic boom, there is a bust Kondratiev waves and your text’s discussion of deindustrialization and creative destruction are important to a complete perspective on cities Q: What does the phrase “creative destruction” mean to you? Can you think of examples? Emerging Industrial Cities Emerging Industrial Cities Essential idea behind Kondratiev waves: the world sees waves of technologies Groups of technologies that work together to change the world economy N l ld d i ew waves rep ace o er waves, pro uc ng a surge in activity Periodic up-times and down-times in world economic fortunes connected to the cycling of technologies Such waves have appeared regularly since the mid-1700s, and perhaps earlier Emerging Industrial Cities A key lesson we learn from research in this area is that economic depression is an important component of future economic growth d fProvi es an opportunity or economic restructuring – getting rid of the old and making way for new industries and ideas This is a hard lesson that many North American cities learned first-hand in the 1970s (and continues on to today)