Abstract

Waiting for Realty. Birth of the Megalopolis

The U.S. city has always been a problem of some sort to somebody, especially city planners. From worries about the corruption of the urban masses to concern with "renewing" the cities, there has been a presumption of failure in the urban communities. This kind of belief, however stated, has really rested upon the classical problem of social change. It is conventional to attribute much of the increase in urban growth to the Civil War and its stimulation of manufacturing. However, it is important to remember that the single greatest proportionate increase of the urban population was between 1840 and 1850, when the proportion living in cities increased by nearly half. A consistent increase continued to the present, with the urban proportion rising around five percent each decade.