Characteristics of City
Ancient
cities developed when food became surplus to support a wide range of non-food
producers. Cities were the centres of political power, administrative network,
trade and industry, religious institutions and intellectual activity. The
cities supported various social groups.
Industrialization
and the Rise of the Modern City of England
Many
decades after the beginning of the industrial revolution, most Western
countries were largely rural. In the early industrial cities of Britain, most
of the people were migrants from rural areas.
By
1750, one out of every nine person of England and Wales lived in London. It was
a big city with a population of about 675,000. Between 1810 and 1880, the
population of London multiplied fourfold; increasing from 1 million to about 4
million.
The
city of London was a powerful magnet for migrant populations; although there
was no large factory in London. The London dockyard was among the major
employer. Additionally, large numbers of people were employed in clothing and
footwear, wood and furniture, metals and engineering, printing and stationary
and precision products.
During
the First World War (1914 ? 1918), manufacturing of motor cars and electrical
goods began in London and this marked the beginning of large factories in the
city. Over due course of time, about one-third of all jobs in the city were
created in these factories.
Marginal
Groups
When
the city of London grew in size, crime also flourished. As per estimates, about
20,000 criminals were living in London in the 1870s. Many people who failed to
find gainful employment often resorted to petty crimes. Sometimes, the crime
provided a better source of earning than doing some of the low paying jobs in
the small factories.
Many
women, who were employed in the factories during war years, lost their jobs and
were forced to work within households. Many of them tried to earn by renting
their homes or by other activities; like tailoring, washing or matchbox making.
Many
poor children were forced into low-paid work, often by their parents.
Compulsory Elementary Education Act was passed in 1870 and the factory acts
were passed in 1902. These acts ensured that the children could be kept out of
industrial work.
Housing:
The flow of migrants to cities created problems of housing. Housing facilities
were not provided by the employers. Private landowners provided cheap but
unsafe tenements for the migrant workers. According to a survey done by Charles
Booth (a Liverpool shipowner) in 1887, about 1 million Londoners were very
poor. This comprised about 20% of the population of London at that time. The
life expectancy of the poor was 29 years; compared to 55 years among the gentry
and the middle class. Charles Booth concluded that London needed to rebuild at
least 400,000 rooms to house its poorest citizens.
The
large number of one-room houses occupied by the poor was seen as serious threat
to public health. Those rooms were poorly ventilated and there was no
arrangement for sanitation. They also posed fire hazard. People living in poor
conditions were also potential hotspots for social disorder. To prevent the London
poor, workers? mass housing schemes were planned.
Cleaning
London
Various
steps were taken to clean up the city of London. Steps were taken to decongest
localities, green the open spaces, reduce pollution and landscape the city.
Large blocks of apartments were built. Rent control was introduced during the
First World War, to reduce the burden on people.
Between
the two World Wars, the British state accepted the responsibility for housing
the working class. Local authorities built about one million houses. Most of
them were single-family cottages.
During
this period, the city expanded beyond the range where people could walk to
work. This necessitated the development of new forms of mass transport.
Transport
in the City
This
was the period when the London underground railway was built. The first section
of the Underground opened in 1863 between Paddington and Farrington. The train
service was expanded by 1880 to carry 40 million passengers a year.
Initial
public reaction towards the Underground was negative. Many people were critical
of the way many houses were demolished to make way for construction of
underground. Many people were not comfortable of the idea of travelling in
smoke filled underground railway. But ultimately, the Underground proved to be
a huge success.
Social
Change in the City
The
family became smaller and individualism increased. The institution of marriage
tended to break down among the working class. Women of the upper middle classes
in Britain faced increasing levels of isolation. Many social reformers felt a
need to save the family by pushing the women back into the home.
Most
of the political movements of this period were largely participated by male. It
took some time before women could actively participate in political movements.
The
positive aspect of these changes was that the family became the focus of the
new market.
Leisure
and Consumption
For
wealthy British, there had been a tradition of ?London Season?. For the elite
families, many cultural events were organized.
People
from the working classes met in pubs. The pub was the centre of exchanging news
and views for them. Libraries, art galleries and museums were established in
the nineteenth century to provide people with a sense of history and pride in
the British achievements. Music halls were popular among the lower classes. By
the early twentieth century, cinema became a popular entertainment across all
classes.
The
trend of spending holidays on beaches increased among the working classes.
Politics
in the City
A
large city population was both a threat and an opportunity from political
perspective. This was a period when many mass strikes and protests erupted in
the city. Some of them were brutally suppressed by the police. The State
authorities worked towards reducing the possibility of rebellion and enhance
urban aesthetics.
The
City in Colonial India
The
situation in India was somewhat different from that in Western Europe. The pace
of urbanization was slow during colonial rule. In the early twentieth century,
no more than 11% of population was living in cities. A major chunk of the urban
dwellers were living in the three Presidency cities, viz. Bombay, Madras and
Calcutta.
The
Presidential cities were multi-functional cities. These cities had major ports,
warehouses, homes and offices, army camps, educational institutions, museums
and libraries. Because of being the hubs of business and political activities,
these cities grew in population.
Bombay
expanded rapidly from the late 19th century. The population of Bombay grew from
644,000 in 1872 to 1,500,000 in 1941.
Bombay:
The Prime City of India
In
the seventeenth century, Bombay was under Portuguese control. It was a group of
seven islands. In 1661; after the marriage of Britain?s King Charles II to the
Portuguese princess; the control of Bombay passed into British hands. After
that, the East India Company shifted its base from Surat to Bombay.
Initially,
Bombay was the major outlet for cotton textiles from Gujarat. Later, in the
nineteenth century, it became the transit hub for large quantities of raw
materials; like cotton and opium.
Gradually,
it became an important administrative centre. By the end of the nineteenth
century, Bombay became a major industrial centre.
Work
in The city
After
the defeat of the Maratha in the Anglo-Maratha War, Bombay became the capital
of Bombay Presidency in 1819. With the growth of trade in cotton and opium,
large communities of traders, bankers, artisans and shopkeepers settled in the
city. Opening of textile mills initiated a fresh round of migration to the
city.
The
first cotton textile mill in Bombay opened in 1854. By 1921, there were 85
cotton mills. About 146,000 workers worked in these mills. Between 1881 and
1931, only about one-fourth of the inhabitants of the city were born in this
city.
Between
1919 and 1926, women formed about 23% of the mill workforce. After that their
number dropped steadily to less than 10% of the total workforce.
The
railways encouraged migration into the city at even larger scale. Famine in the
dry regions of Kutch forced a large number of people to migrate to Bombay in
1888 ? 89. In 1898, the district authorities were so much worried during the
plague epidemic that they sent about 30,000 people back to their places of
origin by 1901.
Housing
and Neighbourhoods
Bombay
was a much crowded city; compared to London. In the late 1840s, each Londoner
enjoyed an average space of 155 sq yards. In Bombay, each person had to manage
with just 9.5 sq yards. About 8 persons lived per house in London, while in
Bombay this figure was 20 persons per house.
The
Bombay Fort area formed the heart of the city in the early 1800s. It was
divided between a 'native' town and a European of ?white? section. This racial
pattern was similar in all three Presidency cities.
The
city developed in an unplanned way; which led to huge crisis of water supply and
housing by the mid 1850s.
The
rich people lived in sprawling bungalows. But more than 70% of the working
people lived in the thickly populated chawls of Bombay. About 90% of
millworkers used to live in Girangaon. This was not more than 15 minutes? walk from
the mills.
A
chawl was a multi-storeyed structure. These houses were usually owned by
private landlords. Each chawl was divided into smaller one-room tenements. The
tenements had no private toilets. The rent was so high that people were forced
to share a tenement with relatives or caste fellows.
Since
homes were small; so streets and neighbourhoods became the place for various
activities; like cooking washing and sleeping. Liquor shops and akharas came up
in any empty spot. Street entertainers and hawkers also used those empty
spaces.
People
from the lower castes found it difficult to find housing. These people were
kept out of many chawls. They often had to live in shelters made of corrugated
sheets, leaves or bamboo poles.
The
City of Bombay Improvement Trust was established in 1898. Its focus was
clearing poorer homes out of the city centre. In 1918, about 64,000 people were
evicted from their homes but only 14,000 were rehabilitated. A Rent Act was
passed in 1918, in an effort to keep the rents under control. But this led to a
severe housing crisis because landlords withdrew houses from the market.
Land
Reclamation in Bombay
Bombay
had largely been built on the land which was reclaimed from the sea. The
earliest reclamation project began in 1784. William Hornby; the governor of
Bombay; approved the building of the great sea wall to prevent flooding of the
low lying areas.
Many
reclamation projects were taken up from time to time. By 1870s, the city had
expanded to about 22 sq miles. Even the famous Marine Drive had been built on
the reclaimed land.
The
City of Dreams: Cinema and Culture
The
first Hindi movie; Raja Harishchandra; was made by Dadasaheb Phalke in 1913. By
1925, Bombay had become the film capital of India. In 1947, about Rs. 756
million was invested in about 50 films which were produced in that year. By
1987, about 520,000 people were employed in the film industry.
Most
of the people in the film industry were migrants from different places. In a
way, they also contributed to the national character of the industry.
Cities
and the challenge of the environment
The
development of cities resulted in long lasting damage to the environment. Use
of coal in homes and industries in the nineteenth century England raised serious
problems. In most of the cities, black smoke from the chimneys gave a permanent
gray tone to the sky. Many people suffered from bad tempers, smoke-related
illnesses and dirty clothes. By the 1840s, some towns such as Derby, Leeds and
Manchester made laws to control smoke in the city. But it was difficult to
implement these laws because industrialists did not want to invest in cleaner
technologies.
Similar
problems were witnessed in the Presidential cities in India. Burning of biomass
and coal by homemakers, industries and railways created lot of smoke and black
soot in the cities. Much legislation was passed to control air pollution but
they could not produce the desired results.
