During the early pre-colonial era and the colonial era, several places such as New England produced goods or even planted crops which were required by colonial nations like England. These colonial nations in turn did produce many other items which included things like hardware as well as clothing and even luxury items. This particular situation, in combination of things like shipbuilding, industries and also good ports did however encouraged some of these people to become settlers as merchants. The activities of production also helped the growth in trade between various colonies, and inturn, cities arose along coastlines in several colonies like for the case ofNew England. The trade later made many of these merchants become wealthy and in turn led to coming up with more new industries within these colonies and the industries are the ones that majorly contributed to the grow of the cities in various regions of the world. Some of the earliest cities whose growth was spurred by this settler are mainly in the American countries. Not only was this development of cities happening in the areas of settlers but also back home in their mother countries where the raw materials taken from these countries of settlement were used to build cities tremendously. For example, by the year 1760, Philadelphia in the United States of America was already growing and had amassed about 23,000 people, making it one of the largest cities in the colonies. The Charles Town in South Carolina, having a total population of about 8,000 people, happened to be the largest city within the Southern side of the nation. Within these examples of cities, and many more others, it is clear that the development of cities started way back in the ancient times of pre-colonial era, with the settler the first ones to come up with many of the ideas that led to the growth of the cities.
In the period ofaround 100 years that haspast,a number of various cities USA have grown tremendously by size. The cities growth in the nation can be attributed to the fact that they happen to have a higher concentration for theavailable employment within the industries that are in these cities. The growth of these cities has been witnessed very much, especially with cities that happen to have a lot of manufacturing industries. Also, the economic development and the incredible technological innovations that have been witnessed have spurred growth remarkable in these cities within the century.
The apparent distribution of cities and their respective sizes has also remained stable and happens to be steadily increasing. The idea that a nation or a government will tend to act in the favor of a certain region or even a certain city within the country, and make this to be typically their national capital city or the region for all the national government. This will however bring a variety of gains for the city since it will grow due to having a better access of markets, importation and also exportation. These acts of favoritism in countries like Brazil, and China has spurred growth in cities like Rio de Jeinoir and Beijing. Also witnessed is the fact that cites like Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka, have majorly seen tremendous development due to the national manufacturing that was at the peak in the year 1970 but has since declined steadily, also affecting their growth partially.
Agricultural and Industrial Wealth Reflected by Cities
The cities in a nation will often reflect the agricultural and industrial wealth in a society because the growth of a city within any society or any setup will often depend on the various factors such as raw materials for making the products in these industries, and this raw materials more often originate from the agricultural sector of that particular society. The industries play an important role in the economy of a certain city and therefore it will in turn help in the growth of a certain city. The major raw materials that are processed in these industries happen to be generated as cash crops, under a flagship of commercial agriculture like horticultural farming and other types of cash crops. These crops happen to be the main drivers of the economy of a city and the general nation as a whole, in the sense that if there happens to be an increase in the agricultural production in any region, it will also bring about the growth of a certain industry and eventually the growth of the city in general. The growth of the industry will mean that an additional population will be required by the industry in order to supplement on the labor force, as it continues to grow. The increase in the demand of labor force by the industry will in turn lead to an influx of people into the city and eventually lead to the growth of that particular town.
The growth of a city will also brings with it major changes that will eventually happen and increase the demand for products in the agricultural, since there will be an increases in the urban populations who will be in need of a proper diets. This will therefore bring about growth in the farming and agricultural sector, the companies, various corporations involved, and the local economies will eventually grow. However, this may also come with its own challenges like food insecurity.
The relationship between commercial agriculture, urban markets and labor specialization is simply in terms of the city as a mutual relation of interdependence upon one another in the sense that the agricultural produce will be able to provide raw materials for the industries, and then the industries do prepare the product for consumption by the urban ready market and in turn the industries will also require a specialized labor force to be able to oversee on its day to day activities of production.
Effects of suburbanization
Suburbanization has been linked to several factorsthat often affect this relationship, in the sense that it brings out the push and pull factors of the whole situation. The push factors are thatit will lead to a greater congestion and also be able to increase the population density within the cities of effect. The pollution increase will be caused by the developing industryand also the higher levels in traffic. There will be a generalized life perception on a lower side. The pull factors will however include more spaces and a greater perception for being eve closer to environmental good of nature in the suburban lower house which have also a lower pricing than the ones in the cities. These houses also happens to be a property exempted from taxes when compared to the ones in the cities, and in turn increasing on the number of openings or job opportunities within the areas. An improvement of thetransport infrastructure will always do encourage the process of suburbanization, since people will become increasingly capable of living in these suburb regions instead of going to live in the expensive city regions that they cannot be able to afford. The however do commute to the town or to the city to for the purpose of going to work.
Growth of American Transportation
A well and maintainedhighways system that also happens to be robust, with appropriate roads and even bridges is often regarded as an essential requirementfor a dynamic or a thriving economy. The developments are normally on the railways, the bus routes within the cities and even the roads. They also need to be maintained more often and improvements done on them to make the lives of people in the cities more practical. However, increasing the number and also the size of the various highways within a particularly city will most certainly be much significant. The American society is much depended on the use of automobile and therefore it is imperative that there be an improvement on the existing road infrastructure or even come up with new ones. Bylaunching the Interstate System of Highways in the year 1950, the then president of the USA, Eisenhower together with the house of Congress did well in recognizingthat this venture would help in the linkage of the American cities.However, in the 1990s, the public spending went on a high all this being a trial to be able to come up with the maintenanceand improvement of the nation’s highways and even the bridges. It even did outstripped the demand, but in the current system it is not even enough tobe able to create an increaseon the economic activity and that the population growth has been pushing the demand higher on the scales i.e.being 43 percent more higher than even the current capacity road.
The road network of the recent times is in a bad state since there are many aging roads together with bridges which have even grown congested therefore, they are veryunreliable. The transport department in the USA claims thatthe major highways in the urbanplaces are very much congested with every one of the four bridges within the national system of highwaysbeing much of structurally obsolete or deficient and not functional. Other societies of the transport system are in good shape and condition and therefore can simply offer a good solution, only that the solution will be limited in a way. The systems can not be able to accommodate all the people living in these cities but can only offer a small percentage of service to be able to ease pressure on the roads.
Conclusion
Industrial growth will always be accompanied by an increase in the energy consumption and eventually lead to a concept of sustainable development. Whenever and industry develops in a more sustainable way, it will also mean that there is a tremendous growth in the technology for that particular city. This technology will eventually help in the industry’s smooth running and further its growth. The industry will continue growing in the sense that more and more agricultural produce will be brought to the city to be processed as the labor increases and so does the technological advancement of the industry. In this development of the industry, and eventually the city, the human’s social life will also get better and better and will eventually increase the life expectancy of a region and also the literacy levels of that particular place.