Multi-family Urban Dwellings Which Were Overcrowded and Unsanitary

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Authors: ; Ilyin, Ilya V.; Korotayev, Andrey
Almanac: Globalistics and Globalization Studies Global Development, Historical Globalistics and Globalization Studies

The paper focuses on the menstruum of increasing and intensified growth of urbani-zation in the nineteenth century. That was the origin of the modern urbanized world. The authors emphasize, however, that in the nineteenth century urbanization was initially vibrant in Europe and the U.s.a.. In other world regions rapid urbanization started mostly in the twentieth century and led to a tremendous increase of the world urban population from less than 200 million in 1900 to 2.86 billion in 2000.

Keywords: urbanization, cities, Europe, the nineteenth century.

To starting time with, let united states of america consider the dynamics of urbanization in the nineteenth century in a broader, millennial perspective (see Fig. 1).

Looking at Fig. 1, one could get the impression that urbanization occurred in the twentieth rather than in the nineteenth century. Indeed, an explosion-like growth of urban population was observed in the twentieth century. Yet, a closer look at the same fourth dimension span in logarithmic scale makes it clear that the previous trend of urban population dynamics started changing already in the eighteenth century. The nineteenth century then brought near such rates of urbanization growth as were previously unknown (run into Fig. 2).

The significant of the nineteenth century in the history of urbanization becomes even more pronounced when one does not wait at the absolute number of urban citizens merely rather at their proportion in the full world population, i.e. the urbanization level (encounter Fig. iii).

The nineteenth century witnessed a dramatic change in the dynamic of urbanization. Even though the early on modern fourth dimension brought about numerous social, political, and economic changes, leading to the emergence of modern-type states, at that place was only little change of patterns of urbanization if compared with previous centuries. The number of urban dwellers was growing, merely this growth ran parallel to the general population growth, so their proportion in the total population remained virtually stable. Thus, in Europe the share of urban population (for cities with population of five,000 and more than) increased only from 10–eleven.5 per cent in 1500 to 12–13 per cent in 1700 (Bairoch 1988: 176). According to somewhat lower estimates the level of European urbanization in 1800 was merely ten per cent(de Vries 1984: 45).

In other regions of the world the situation was pretty much the aforementioned, with urbanization levels existence approximately the same as or even lower than in Europe. In Mainland china with its rich history of urban culture just 6–7.5 per cent of the population resided in cities (population exceeding 5,000 people) in the early nineteenth century (Bairoch 1988: 358). In Nippon almost eleven–14 per cent of population dwelled in cities in 1700 (Ibid.: 360).

The nineteenth century bankrupt this long-term stability, as the share of world urban population doubled from 6.6 per cent in 1800 to 12 per cent in 1900. The growth of urban population significantly outpaced the growth of the earth population in general. This allows usa to state that it was namely in the nineteenth century that the mod process of global urbanization began.

Nevertheless, despite its crucial influence on diverse spheres of life, the pace of the urban population growth in the nineteenth century should not exist exaggerated. It was peculiarly fast in Western Europe, but even hither only one country, Great britain, was more than or less close to completing the urban transition past the end of the nineteenth century – more than half of its population resided in cities by 1900. Meanwhile, other European countries had only passed the initial stages of the urbanization process; even the leaders, such every bit Belgium and the Netherlands, had merely nigh one-third of their population habitation in cities by 1890 (run across Table one and Fig. 4).

Table i. The share of urban population in diverse European countries and regions at different time points during the 19^thursday century, %

Country/region	1800	1850	1890
England	20.three	40.8	61.9
Kingdom of belgium	18.9	xx.5	34.v
Deutschland	5.five	10.8	28.ii
France	8.8	fourteen.v	25.ix
Kingdom of spain	11.1	17.3	26.8
Italy	14.6	twenty.3	21.two
The Netherlands	28.8	29.5	33.4
Portugal	eight.seven	13.2	12.7
Scandinavia	4.6	5.8	13.ii
Switzerland	3.vii	vii.7	16.0
Total Europe	x	16.vii	29.0

Source: de Vries 1984: 45–46.

After 1890 European urbanization accelerated remarkably, and by 1910 the proportion of urban citizens in European population increased to 41 per cent. This was happening confronting the backdrop of a huge acceleration in the general growth of the population in Europe. As a result of these 2 processes acting together, the overall growth of the absolute numbers of city dwellers was truly astonishing – later on only a little more 100 years the city population of Europe rocketed from 19 million to 127 million (Bairoch 1988: 217).

This growth was concentrated in big cities and specially the capitals. 'The advantage of size meant growing economical opportunity in the metropolis, especially if it was besides the seat of government, where the concentration of labor, entrepreneurship, commerce, credit, and intelligence attracted the restless and ambitious from all classes of club' (Hamerow 1989: 94–95). However, not infrequently the capitals were outpaced by centers of industry and merchandise in attracting new citizens.

In the nineteenth century, large cities were growing all over the earth. However, it was in Europe and in the USA that this growth was peculiarly pronounced (see Table 2). As a result of this, Europe and the USA profoundly outpaced other globe regions in terms of urbanization, and we see a major reconfiguration of the global distribution of the world largest cities. This phenomenon is clearly visible when comparing the list of xxx largest cities of the earth in 1800 with that in 1914 (see Tabular array three).

Table 2. Absolute (thousands) and relative (%) population growth in 1800–1914 in 30 largest (equally of 1914) cities of the world

	City	Absolute population growth during the 19 th century, thousands	Relative population growth during the xix thursday century, % (population in 1800 = 100 %)
1.	London	6,558	762
2.	New York	6,637	ten,535
3.	Paris	3,453	631
4.	Berlin	3,328	1,935
5.	Tokyo	2,815	411
6.	Chicago	two,420	Established after 1800
seven.	Vienna	1,918	830
viii.	Saint-Petersburg	1,913	870
9.	Moscow	i,557	628
10.	Philadelphia	1,692	ii,488
11.	Buenos Aires	1,596	iv,694
12.	Manchester	1,519	1,875
13.	Birmingham	1,429	2,013
14.	Osaka	1,097	286
15.	Calcutta	ane,238	764
16.	Boston	1,269	iii,626
17.	Liverpool	i,224	1,611
18.	Hamburg	1,183	1,011
nineteen.	Glasgow	one,041	1,239
xx.	Constantinople	555	97
21.	Rio de Janeiro	ane,046	2,377
22.	Bombay	940	671
23.	Budapest	996	1844
24.	Beijing	–100	–9
25.	Shanghai	910	1011
	City	Accented population growth during the 19 th century, thousands	Relative population growth during the nineteen thursday century, % (population in 1800 = 100 %)
26.	Warsaw	831	1108
27.	St. Louis	804	ii
28.	Tianjin	655	504
29.	Pittsburgh	774	51567
thirty.	Cairo	649	295

Source: Chandler 1987.

Table 3. xxx largest cities of the world in 1800 and in 1914 (cities of Europe and the The states are printed in bold blazon)

1800			1914
City	Country	Population in 1800, thousands	City	Country	Population in 1914, thousands
Beijing	China	1,100	London	Great Britain	7,419
London	Dandy U.k.	861	New York	the Us	6,700
Canton	Cathay	800	Paris	France	4,000
Edo	Japan	685	Berlin	Deutschland	iii,500
Constantinople	the Ottoman Empire	570	Tokyo	Japan	3,500
Paris	France	547	Chicago	the USA	2,420
Naples	Kingdom of Naples	430	Vienna	Austria	2,149
Hangzhou	China	387	Saint-Petersburg	Russian federation	2,133
Osaka	Japan	383	Moscow	Russia	1,805
Kyoto	Japan	377	Philadelphia	the Us	1,760
Moscow	Russia	248	Buenos Aires	Argentina	1,630
Suzhou	Prc	243	Manchester	Not bad U.k.	ane,600
Lucknow	Republic of india (Great Uk)	240	Birmingham	Britain	1,500
Lisbon	Portugal	237	Osaka	Japan	one,480
Vienna	Austria	231	Calcutta	Bharat	i,400
Xian	China	224	Boston	the The states	1,304
Saint-Petersburg	Russia	220	Liverpool	Great Britain	ane,300
Amsterdam	Netherlands	195	Hamburg	Germany	1,300
Seoul	Korea	194	Glasgow	Great U.k.	1,125
Murshidabad	India (Great Britain)	190	Constantinople	the Ottoman Empire	ane,125
Cairo	Arab republic of egypt	186	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	1,090
Madrid	Spain	182	Bombay	India	1,080
Benares	India (Slap-up United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland)	179	Budapest	Hungary	i,050
Amarapura	Burma	175	Beijing	China	i,000
Hyderabad	India (U.k.)	175	Shanghai	China	1,000
Berlin	Deutschland	172	Warsaw	Poland	906
Patna	India (Groovy Britain)	170	St. Louis	the USA	804
Dublin	Ireland	165	Tianjin	China	785
Kintechen	Communist china	164	Pittsburgh	the USA	775
Calcutta	Republic of india (Bully Britain)	162	Cairo	Egypt	735

Source: Chandler 1987.

While in 1800 just 3 out of the world's ten largest cities were located in Europe, in 1914 9 out of ten largest cities belonged to the European region or the The states. The only exception, Tokyo, supports the general rule, equally Nihon was the most successful example of the European-style modernization exterior the European world.

The dynamics of the total population of the thirty largest cities of the world between 1800 and 1914 was explosion-like (encounter Fig. 5). Information on the population growth in the seven largest cities of the globe in 1800–1914 are presented in Fig. 6.

The Emergence of Modern-Type Cities

Sanitary infrastructure. For much of the nineteenth century the death rates in urban areas remained extremely loftier, especially considering infant and kid mortality. For example, in British industrial cities of Lancashire and Cheshire 198 out of 1,000 children died before their offset birthday – twice more than in rural areas (Bairoch 1988: 67). In the French city of Lille, ane-quarter of children died earlier the age of iii years (Lees and Lees 2007: 143). A similar situation had been observed in many other industrial cities in Europe. The main reasons for high mortality were dirty and unsanitary weather in the streets and houses (especially in the poor working-grade neighborhoods), and even the contamination of the air of industrial cities was unbearable (Schultz 1989: 112). Gradually, in the 2d half of the nineteenth century, various solutions were offered to the problems of urban sanitation infrastructure. Thus, private wells by fundamental public water supply. By the end of the nineteenth century more than 40 of the 50 largest U.s. cities had extensive h2o systems created and maintained by the state (Schultz 1989: 164). Previous ways of waste product disposal (part of it was taken by farmers for fertilizing, but a meaning portion was disposed of in a completely unsanitary style – e.g., dumped and poured in the outskirts of the city) were overtaken by modern sewerage systems. These 2 phenomena (along with street paving, improvement of public lighting, etc.) played a crucial role in the evolution of cities and the decline of urban bloodshed.

Public transportation. Cities with hundreds of thousands citizens were confronted with the problem of organizing a send network. Indeed, in contrast to the medieval craftsmen, industrial workers lived and worked in different places, and then nearly of them had to commute every twenty-four hour period. According to Paul Bairoch, the public transport system was built-in in 1828 in Paris (which then counted more than 800,000 people) when the city installed its starting time omnibus line. From Paris the public send system spread throughout the Western world. Already in 1829, inspired by the success of Paris, London followed its example, and in 1831 New York did the same. In the next 2 decades the public ship system appeared in almost all the major cities in Europe and North America. Public send rapidly gained popularity. By the finish of the 1850s omnibuses in London and Paris carried 40 million passengers annually (Bairoch 1988: 281; Clark 2009: 273). In the 1850s the rail urban transport began to actively expand. The showtime electric tram was demonstrated past Siemens in 1879 and started working in Frankfurt in 1881. Electrification contributed to the development of the underground urban transport – on the eve of the First Globe War metro lines were performance in 12 cities of the world, such every bit London (since 1863), New York (1868), Istanbul (1875), Budapest (1897), Glasgow (1897), Vienna (1898), Paris (1900), Boston (1901), Berlin (1902), Philadelphia (1907) Hamburg (1912), Buenos Aires (1913) (Bairoch 1988: 282).

Urban infrastructure. An of import novelty of the nineteenth century was the idea of planning the urban landscape. The initiative belonged to Prussia where in 1808 each municipality was obliged to institute a edifice commission, responsible for street paving and drainage systems, also every bit for the condition of sidewalks (Lees and Lees 2007: 123).

An integral part of the modern cities was constituted by numerous shops, especially large department stores, many of which (Le Bon Marché, the first department store, which opened in Paris in 1852, London's Selfridge, etc.) continue to operate today. Virtually every major Western European city (as well as many small towns) for a sure menstruum of the nineteenth century experienced a real boom in the opening of stores. For example, in Britain their number grew past 300 per cent in the first half of the nineteenth century. In Vienna the number of stores tripled in 1870–1902, while in Paris information technology increased eightfold (Clark 2009: 266).

Pregnant changes were taking place not only in the public space of cities, just also in individual homes. By the middle of the nineteenth century rich American and European homes had running water; later this innovation appeared in the houses of the center class. 93 pct of London houses had running water on the eve of the First World State of war (Clark 2009: 272). A change in house planning implied a split up room for hygiene procedures, which undoubtedly contributed to the reject in mortality from infectious diseases (Schultz 1989: 164).

References

Bairoch, P. 1988. Cities and Economic Development. From the Dawn of History to the Present. Chicago: The Academy of Chicago Printing.

Chandler, T. 1987. Four G Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Printing.

Clark, P. 2009. European Cities and Towns: 400–2000. Oxford: Oxford Academy Press.

Hamerow, T. D. 1989. The Birth of a New Europe. State and Society in the Nineteenth Century. Chapel Colina and London: The Academy of Due north Carolina Printing.

Lees, A., and Lees, L. H. 2007. Cities and the Making of Modernistic Europe, 1750–1914. New York: Cambridge Academy Press.

Modelski, G. 2003. World Cities: –3000 to 2000. Washington: FAROS 2000.

Schultz, Due south. Grand. 1989. Constructing Urban Civilization: American Cities and City Planning, 1800 – 1920. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

UN Population Sectionalisation. 2016. Un. Department of Economical and Social Affairs. Population Division Database. URL: http://world wide web.un.org/esa/population.

Vries, J., de. 1984. European Urbanization 1500–1800. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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* This research has been supported by Russian Science Foundation (projection No 15-18-30063).

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Source: https://www.SocioStudies.org/almanac/articles/the_nineteenth-century/

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