Urbanisation: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 15:30, 22 June 2017

The early beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in Britain (between 1760 and 1780) influenced the development of cities in the strongest way. Urbanisation totally changed the image of cities and countryside.

Population

There was always a debate on the question if the British population grew or decreased. When John Rickman organised the first official census in 1801, he found an answer to that question. The population of the UK grew explicitly. Further research showed that the population increased from eight million people in 1794 to about ten million people in 1812 to 13 million people in 1830.

Industrialisation resulted in enormous shifts in population. Most people used to live in the South and East of England. Due to the industrialisation, however, the population moved towards the North and the West.

London had more than one million inhabitants at the beginning of the 19th century. It was the biggest city of Europe. What is more, England became the country with most people living in cities. Other big cities were Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham or Leeds which had more than 50000 inhabitants. Their development was caused by the industrialisation, too.

There is more to urbanisation than just the growth of cities. The agglomeration of highly populated areas, where cities were established close by each other, is one very important characteristic of urbanisation. One third of the English population had lived in urbanised areas at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1851, already half of the population moved there.

In addition to that the growing population was in need of more and more food. This is why the food production had to grow, which resulted in the intensification of agriculture. The number of imports rose as well.

Problems

The cities were not prepared for such fast movements of the population from the countryside to the city. A lot of problems resulted from urbanisation. For example, the water supply was short, there were difficulties with sewage, the air was polluted, street cleaning involved a lot of problems. Moreover, loads of social problems arose as many people squeezed in a small place, poverty or problems with hygiene.

People lived at the margin of subsistence. Often, their only chance to survive and to put through their families was to move to the cities. This made poverty of the masses a serious problem of the UK at that time.

Counter-movement

There was a counter-movement to the growing industrial cities, which included the foundation of new small industrial villages. Those villages were built by owners of factories who provided a place to live for their employees, for example G. Cadbury's village Bournville in Birmingham, which was built in 1879.

Sources

Heineberg, Heinz. Stadtgeographie. Paderborn: Schöningh, 2006, 217 - 219; 226.

Maurer, Michael. Kleine Geschichte Englands. Ditzingen: Reclam, 2007, 326 - 330.

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 The early beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in Britain (between 1760 and 1780) influenced the development of cities in the strongest way. Urbanisation totally changed the image of cities and countryside.
 == Population ==
+There was always a debate on the question if the British population grew or decreased. When John Rickman organised the first official census in 1801, he found an answer to that question. The population of the UK grew explicitly. Further research showed that the population increased from eight million people in 1794 to about ten million people in 1812 to 13 million people in 1830.
-There was always a debate on the question if the British population grew or decreased. When John Rickman organised the first official census in 1801, he found an answer to that question. The population of the UK grew explicitly. Further research showed that the population increased from eight million people in 1794 about ten million people in 1812 to 13 million people in 1830.
+Industrialisation resulted in enormous shifts in population. Most people used to live in the South and East of England. Due to the industrialisation, however, the population moved towards the North and the West.
-Industrialisation resulted in enormous shifts of where people lived. Most people used to live in the South and East of England. However, the population moved towards North and West now.
-London had more than one million inhabitants at the beginning of the 19th century. It was the biggest city of Europe. What is more, England became the counrty with most people living in cities. Other big cities were Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham or Leeds which had more than 50000 inhabitants. Their development was caused by the Industrialisation, too.
-There is more to Urbanisation than just the growth of cities. The agglomeration of high populated areas, where cities were established close by each other, is one very important characteristic of Urbanisation. One third of the English population had lived in urbanised areas at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1851, already half of the population moved there.
+London had more than one million inhabitants at the beginning of the 19th century. It was the biggest city of Europe. What is more, England became the country with most people living in cities. Other big cities were Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham or Leeds which had more than 50000 inhabitants. Their development was caused by the industrialisation, too.
-In addition to that he further growing population was in need of more and more food. This is why the food production had to grow, which resulted in the intensification of agriculture. The number of imports rose as well.
+There is more to urbanisation than just the growth of cities. The agglomeration of highly populated areas, where cities were established close by each other, is one very important characteristic of urbanisation. One third of the English population had lived in urbanised areas at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1851, already half of the population moved there.
+In addition to that the growing population was in need of more and more food. This is why the food production had to grow, which resulted in the intensification of agriculture. The number of imports rose as well.
 == Problems ==
+The cities were not prepared for such fast movements of the population from the countryside to the city. A lot of problems resulted from urbanisation. For example, the water supply was short, there were difficulties with sewage, the air was polluted, street cleaning involved a lot of problems. Moreover, loads of social problems arose as many people squeezed in a small place, poverty or problems with hygiene.
-The cities were not prepared for such fast movements of the population from the countryside to the city. A lot of problems resulted from urbanisation. For example, the water supply was short, there were difficulties with sewage, the air was polluted, street cleaning involved a lot of problems. Moreover, loads of social problems arose like the many people squeezed in a small place, poverty or problems with hygiene.
 People lived at the margin of subsistence. Often, their only chance to survive and to put through their families was to move to the cities. This made poverty of the masses a serious problem of the UK at that time.
 == Counter-movement ==
+There was a counter-movement to the growing industrial cities, which included the foundation of new small industrial villages. Those villages were built by owners of factories who provided a place to live for their employees, for example G. Cadbury's village Bournville in Birmingham, which was built in 1879.
-There was a counter-movement to the growing industrial cities, which included the foundation of new small industrial villages. Those villages were built by owners of factories provided a place to live for their employees, for example G. Cadbury's village Bournville in Birmingham, which was built in 1879.