Characteristics of the City
Ancient Cities
First appeared along river valleys
could develop only when an increase in food supplies
were often the centers of political power, administrative networks,
trade and industry, religious institutions and intellectual activity
Modern Cities
vary greatly in size and complexity
densely settled modern day metropolises
combine political & economic functions for an entire region
support very large population
Industrialization & the Rise of Modern City in England
Early industrial cities - Leeds & Manchester were based are textiles mills
London was a powerful magnet for migrant population
was a city of clerks & shopkeepers, small masters & skilled artisians
Apart from Dockyard, five major industries - clothing & footwear,
wood & furniture, metals & engineering, printing & stationary,
precision products such as instruments, watches
& objects of precious metal
Marginal Groups
Criminals
Crime became an object of widespread concern
Some of the criminals were infact poor people,
who indulged in stealing to survive
Others were more skilled at their trade
Authorities imposed high penalties for crime
and offered work for deserving poor
Women
With industrialization women lost their industrial jobs
women used their homes to increase family incomes
in 20th century women got employment in
wartime industries and offices
Children
were pushed into low paid work, often got attracted towards crime
Compulsory Education Act 1870, Factory Act 1902
Housing
Individual landowners put up cheap, unsafe tenements,
Poverty was more concentrated and starkly visible in the city
Poor were expected to live up to an average age of 29
Better off city dwellers demanded that slums be cleared away -
were considered a serious threat to public health,
there were worries aobut fire hazards
fear of social disorders epecially after the Russian Revolution in 1917
Cleaning London
Attempts were made to decongest localities,
green open spaces,
reduce pollution and landscape the city
Large blocks of apartments were built,
Rent control was introduced
Attempts were made to bridge the difference between city and countryside
with Green Belts around London
Garden City
Ebenzer Howard developed the principle,
A pleasant space full of plants and trees,
where people wld both live and work
Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker designed
the garden city of New Earswick
Between the two world wars, the British state
create a million single family cottages
Transport in the Cities
were created to persuade workers to leave
the city and live in garden suburbs,
first section of undergroun Railway was between
Paddington and Farrington Street in London
Initially people were afraid to travel underground
(i) Coal engine emitted a lot of smoke
(ii) People smoke cigar, fumesof kerosene lamp
(iii) People complained of Asphyxiation
(iv) People termed railways as Iron Monster
(v) Two miles of Railways, led to destruction of 900 houses
Outcomes - city became more dispersed, large numbers
started to live outside central London
Social Changes in the City
Function and the shape of the family completely transformed
Family ties loosened, institution of marriage tended to break down
Rich class women faced higher level of isolation
Women of lower social classes, who worked
for wages had some control over their lives
Men, Women & Family in the City
City encouraged a new spirit of Individualism
and a freedom from the collective values.
Women lost their industrial jobs, were forced
to withdraw into their homes.
Political movements (Chartism, 10 hour movement)
mobilised large number of men.
By 20th century family now consisted of much smaller units,
became the heart of a new market - of goods, services and of ideas
Leisure and Consumption
For wealthy British, an annual ‘London Season’ was held
Libraries, Art Gallaries and Museums were established,
Music halls became popular among lower classes,
Cinema became the great mass entertainment,
Workers were encouraged to spend their holidays by the sea
Politics in the City
In Winter of 1886, London poor exploded in a riot,
marched from Deptford to London
demanding relief from terrible conditions of poverty.
A similar riot occurred in November 1887 which
was suppressed by the Police, came to be known
as Bloody Sunday. Two years later, London’s dockworkers
went of strike to gain recognition for the dockworkers union
A large city population was thus both a threat and an opportunity
The City in Colonial India
about 11% Indians were living in cities.
A large proportion of these urban dwellers were residents
of the three Presidency cities. Bombay was the premier city
Bombay the Prime City in India
Bombay a group of seven islands was under Portugues control,
in 1661 came under the British hands
Bombay a major outlet for cotton textiles from Gujarat,
a port, became an important administrative center
and a major industrial center
Work in the City
Became the capital of the Bombay Presidency,
attracted large communities of traders, bankers, artisians & shopkeepers.
Textile mills led to a fresh surge of migrations
Women number dropped in the workforce,
work was taken over by machines or men
Dominated the maritime trade,
junction head of the two major railways attracted large migratory workers
Famine in the Kutch also brought workers
Housing and Neighbourhoods
Bombay did not grew according to any plan,
houses in fort area were interspressed with Gardens
Bombay fort area divided between a native town
and a European or White section
Crisis of housing and water supply became acute
Richer Parsi, Muslims & upper caste traders,
industrialists lived in sprawling spacious bungalows,
working people lived in the thickely populated chawls
Chawls
Largely owned by private landlords,
each chawl was divided into smaller one-room tenements which had no private toilets
High rents forced workers to share home
Though water was scarce, yet houses were kept quite clean
Stretts and neighbourhoods were used for a variety of activities
Magician, monkey players or acrobats used to
regularly perform in the open places in Chawls
Chawls were also the place for the exchange of
news about jobs, strikes, riots or demonstrations
Person, generally Jobber, settled disputes,
organised food supplies or arranged informal credit
People of depressed classes resided outside chawls
Planning in Bombay came about as a result of
fears about the Plague epidemic.
Rent Act was passed, was not followed
Land Reclamation in Bombay
In 1784, Willian Hornby approved the building of the great sea wall
1864, Back Bay Reclaimation Company won the
right to reclaim the western foreshore from the
tip of Malabar Hill to the end of Colaba
by 1870, the city had expanded to about 22 square mills
Bombay Port Trust built dry dock between 1914 & 1918,
created Ballard Estate and Famous Marine Drive
Bombay as the City of Dreams
Bombay Film industry through its movies
speak of the contradictory aspects of the city
First movie in 1896, scene of a wrestling
match shot by Sakharam Bhatwadekar.
Dadasaheb Phalke made Raja Harishchandra in 1913.
By 1925, Bombay became India’s film capital
Cities and the Challenge of the Environment
England - Industrial chimneys spewed black smoke,
people complained of Black fog causing bad tempers,
smoke related illness and dirty clothes
By 1840 Derby, Leeds & Manchester had laws to control smoke
Smoke abatement Acts of 1847 & 1853 did not always worked to clear the air
Calcutta - Fog combined with smoke, generated thick black smoge.
Population dependent on dung & wood as fuel,
and industries and establishments used steam engines
run on coals were the major polluters.
In 1863, Calcutta became the first Indian city
to get smoke nuisance legislation.
Bengal Smoke Nuisance Commission largely controlled industrial smoke,
controlling domestic smoke was difficult.
