Urbanization

1. What is Urbanization?

Urbanization is the growth of cities, mostly in northeast and midwest regions.

2. For what reasons did a number of Americans move from the country to the cities?

Cities were both inexpensive and convenient, they offered jobs for unskilled workers like jobs working in mills and factories. With the improvement of farming technology, farming required less laborers and as a result many farmer's were put out of jobs. To find new jobs, rural farmers moved from the country to the city.

3. What were the housing problems that many poor city dwellers faced?

The housing problems that many city dwellers faced all came from over crowding and unsanitary conditions. New York state, upon seeing these conditions tried to set laws to set minimum standards, but this backfired and led to even worse living conditions. Tenements began being built with air shafts, but because garbage piled up, people dumped the trash into the air shafts which led to vermin problems. To block the bad smells, people nailed the windows shut. This caused the tenements to become even worse than before.