UrbanizationBy Channing Shattuck

CloughWill New York stay on top as the American economic hotspot? Much of this depends on whether the big name companies set aside their rivalries for a moment and come together to prove their homeland's worth to be a contender. Clough goes into detail about how New York, despite struggles and competition with other locations, has remained the center for global information and trade all these years and why it may continue to remain this way. He explains that opportunities for other regions to take the title have come up before, but have failed due to New York's prime location and increasing capital markets. However, now with the Internet all over, the ability to dominate the global economy is no longer limited by location. This brings up the struggle once again, as different regions vie for a piece of the Apple's power in an effort to bring their names into the global limelight. There is a chance New York may lose it's grandiose title, but only if the competing corporations can put an end to their rivalries for the sake of the situation.

Kotkin ArticlesTall buildings. That's what we are hit with. The mesmerizing feeling of building huge skyscrapers to show off your city's power is a growing trend. No longer is the U.S. seen as the influential nation of the world. Our cities are not as tall, our cities are not as modern, our cities have lost their initial “boom”. But does bigger necessarily mean better? Maybe for attraction purposes; the lull of the grandiose cities incites tourism, and with it, higher prices of living. Who knows if this growth will be for the better of for the worse, but one thing remains perfectly clear, cities will pave the way of the future.

However, in the U.S., these cities might just lose their room to grow. Federal control and regulation is increasing since the Obama administration took office, and with Washington bureaucrats telling cities how to grow, things might just get ugly. After all, what right does a capital-living lobbyist have to say about the unpredictable expanse that is urban city planning? Perhaps our best bet is leaving the city building to the region it resides in rather then following a standardized procedure by people who just want to dip their hands into the projects rather then put care and time into it. It might be unwise to leave the entire city building process of each unique region up to a single entity. Unless, of course, you're trying to rebuild Rome.

Section II: Conquering and Settling the WestBrown - Gridded Lives

Section IV: Immigrants and CitiesNugent - The Great Transatlantic

MigrationsRybczynski - The City in the Land of the

Dollar

America ComparedThere is this enormous idea that, perhaps, most cities are formed in the same way. Well, maybe not the same way, but with the same idea in mind. That is, efficiency. To efficiently provide social survival by putting everything that’s important and squeezing it together – and calling it a city. We get instances that a prison encampment ends up much like a regular city in the U.S. The familiarity is found in the grid-like manner the city is set up in. But before cities can by built, land must be found. The process of obtaining barren land was not as simple as a search. Most land had to be taken from nomads and “primitives” who had utilized the land before. On and on this cycle goes. Bigger people take from the smaller people. Larger corporations buy out the small homeowners. Buildings turn into skyscrapers. And at record speed too! There was no time to wait, cities needed to spring up and be ready on demand.

America ComparedChicago; a huge testament of the power and might of the U.S. From village to metropolis, this city is proof that persistence goes a long way. Even a fire couldn’t stop it. Chicago rose up from the ashes (quite literally) and grew to be the tallest city of it’s time. Chicagoans were obsessed with staying “modern”. For example, to keep up with the times, Chicago stuck up electric lamps right after their invention. They hopped on the opportunity to use cable cars as city transport. Then upgraded it to electric trolleys when that became available. Then, the elevator. That’s when things got tall. The elevator allowed it to be practical to have tall buildings. But steel is what allowed buildings to be tall in the first place! Chicago became a place of influence. Only there was downtown safe and a good place to spend time. It encouraged shopping to women and catered to their needs. Chicago, it seems, was America’s first real city. A city based on modernization and the people’s needs. Perhaps it would be better to say… Chicago was one of America’s first successfully forced cities.

America ComparedBrazil is to the U.S. as Argentina is to Canada. We’re talking immigration here. Argentina experienced a HUGE growth in their population related to immigrants – at one point, up to 30% of the population was foreign born. This is immense. Brazil, however, did not have as much of a boom. This would be explained by the land and the way the land was run. Brazil followed a process of primitive agriculture and attempting to culture unsustainable land (for the most part). But Brazil is immense, a huge vast region that encompasses all sorts of landscapes. Railroads and expansion would end up increasing growth in Brazil and lead it to a more successful future.

Foreign Policy ArticlesForeign Policy issues grew as rapidly as the populations.Experiencing rapid growth means adapting quickly and risking change. Cities all over the world grew around this period. However, we see the most rapid changes in Asia, places like Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and so on.Cities are all unique because of their own unique situations. Though some cities may copy ideas from others, they still remain different in their own ways.