ASI assignment

Urban Growth in American Cities: Glimpses of U.S. Urbanization

By: Roger Auch, Janis Taylor, and William Acevedo

Growth of Urban Areas

The growth of urban areas throughout the history of the United States has been dramatic. Various circumstances and driving forces have interacted over 225 years to reach a point where 80 percent of the Nation's population now lives in metropolitan areas that occupy less than 20 percent of the land area. The amount of intensively urbanized land within these metropolitan areas is even less (Platt, 1996, 22-24). Urban population growth started slowly, accelerated in the second half of the 19th century, and then continued steadily throughout the next hundred years (fig. 2). The form of, and reasons for, urbanization have, however, changed considerably over time.

Figure 2. Source: Historical Statistics of the United States Colonial Times to 1970, Part 1, p. 11-12; Statistical Abstract of the United States 2000, p. 38.

American cities grew steadily throughout the first 75 years of nationhood but remained relatively small in geographic area and population. Most were located along transportation access points: at seaports, along navigable tidal and major inland rivers, along canals, and around the Great Lakes. The regional hinterlands beyond the cities produced raw commodities as a part of rural-based economies. Those commodities were then processed into durable goods in urban centers and redistributed in the area or transported to other regions where they were refined or even exported (Borchert, 1967). By the eve of the Civil War, however, the nature of urban development had begun to change. Cities were becoming centers of industry as access to local and regional natural resources improved and these resources were exploited. In addition, European social unrest led to a steady stream of immigrants arriving in the United States. These conditions were especially

marked in New England and the Middle Atlantic States. The South and Midwest, by contrast, remained predominantly rural, although regional economies were linked to urban markets (Goldfield and Brownell, 1990, 95- 102, 104-109). A few Western cities also appeared at this time, although few were significant on the national scene. In general, their economies tended to be based either on localized mineral wealth or on agriculture; a handful were Hispanic cultural centers (Starrs, 1995, 271-285).

The pace of urbanization quickened following the Civil War. Trains became the dominant transportation mode throughout the country, especially after 1870, when an economical way to mass-produce steel was introduced, allowing the construction of a vast rail network. Many cities were created as a result of railroad expansion, while others grew in size after becoming rail hubs. Industrialization also gained prominence, and by 1890 a national economy had been created. Natural resources from all parts of the country were used to fuel a rapidly expanding industrial Nation (Meyer, 1987, 321- 345). Immigration, mostly from Europe, continued to bolster the burgeoning population. Drawn by factory jobs, many immigrants settled in cities. At this time, the majority of the Nation's urban population was still located in the Northeast and the Midwest (Goldfield and Brownell, 1990, 185-212). Cities in the South and West continued to grow but remained smaller in comparison. For example, in 1896, Miami had a mere 500 registered voters (Proctor, 1996, 269-270).

Changes in agricultural production increased the flow of people to the cities by the turn of the century. Regional specialization of specific commodities as a result of environmental conditions gave agricultural producers in some places an advantage over producers elsewhere. Farmers in areas where land was of marginal quality many times had to abandon agriculture and seek other sources of employment (Meyer, 1987, 326-334; Borchert, 1987, 103, 107). In the South, many African-Americans migrated to northern industrial cities to escape the growing failure of the postslavery sharecropping system that relied on monoculture cotton production (Clark, 1984, 145-146; Spinney, 2000, 167-170). Hispanic workers came to California and other Western States in increasing numbers as new irrigation projects made it possible to raise high-value but labor-intensive fruits and vegetables. Migrant field workers and their families often ended up living in small but growing urban areas throughout the region (Haverluk, 2000).

The old "downtown" city in America reached its zenith by the end of the First World War. The inner core of the city was the center of industrial management, production, and distribution. Such cities were predominantly densely populated, because most workers lived in multifamily dwellings near their sites of employment. Downtown landscapes were also being

transformed as rising land prices and new technologies fostered the construction of high-rise buildings, or "skyscrapers." Suburbanization was initially limited to neighboring communities linked to city centers by railroads and electric streetcars. Modern highways were just making their first appearance (Muller, 1986). The U.S. Census of 1920 revealed that, for the first time, more Americans lived in urban than rural settings (Platt, 1996, 215).

Between 1929 and 1945, the United States underwent both the Great Depression and the Second World War. These events ultimately formed a watershed that separated an old form of urban dynamics from a new one that has evolved over the past 50 years. Some of the seeds of this change had already been sown, however, during the previous few decades. These included the rapid increase in automobile ownership in the 1920s and the creation of the modern mortgage loan in the 1930s. Consumer spending also was severely curtailed as a result of the Depression and World War II, first from hardship and then by forced austerity. This led to a buildup of personal savings that helped create the Nation's booming postwar economy into which the "baby boom" generation was born.

Another factor that influenced this change in urban growth dynamics was the involvement by the Federal Government, in both the national economy and those of local communities, in committing massive amounts of money to fight the Depression and later, the war. Several metropolitan regions included in this booklet reflect growth stimulated by this World War II era activity. One noteworthy aspect of this involvement was the backing of long- term home mortgage loans by several agencies, such as the Federal Housing Administration and the Veterans Administration, following the war. Most of the housing units financed in this manner were built on the edge of the existing cities (Jackson, 1985, 190-218). In time, the selective funding of major public works and the creation of a military-industrial complex would come to favor some urban areas over others (Goldfield and Brownell, 1990, 323-341; Markusen and others, 1991, 8-25, 51-81). Examples in the booklet include the Boston, Orlando, Seattle, and Denver areas. A third significant influence on urban growth in the postwar era was the exposure that millions of Americans had gained to other parts of the country. During the 1930s, many people abandoned regions fraught with economic and environmental problems for new places that were thought to offer better opportunities and living conditions (Gregory, 1989, 3-25; Lewis, 1987, 433-436). Others who had been involved in the armed services were exposed to parts of the country that had greater appeal as future places of residence than their former communities (Mohl and Mormino, 1996, 424-425; Lewis, 1987, 433- 436; Abbott, 1981, 37-41, 98-119). Orlando, Tampa, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Denver are all examples of cities that had new military bases during

World War II and offered different but attractive natural amenities to potential new residents.

A new form of urban growth gained prominence after the war: mass suburbanization around the older cities. Several factors fostered its spread. First, the development of an improved highway system allowed people to commute to their jobs in the cities from outside municipal boundaries. This trend began in the 1920s but accelerated greatly after the 1940s. The passage of the Federal Interstate Highway Act in the 1950s set the stage for large-scale, multilane roads that became a reality over the next 20 years. Other driving forces behind suburbanization were subtler. The Nation's growing middle class, comprised of both blue- and white-collar workers, now had the financial resources to buy single-family residences away from the high-density city center and could maintain their suburban lifestyle by commuting (Jackson, 1985, 231-245). The suburbs also represented a refuge for a growing number of Americans who longed for quieter, less hectic lives that were removed from the congestion, noise, pollution, multifamily residences, and high land prices typically found in the heart of the city. Many of the Nation's citizens were only a generation or two removed from farm or small-town living; the suburbs offered a means of bridging small-town and city life (Herbers, 1986, 91-101).