Urbanization DBQ Activity
Prompt: What impact has urbanization had on society?
Document A
Source: Mitchell, Joni. Big Yellow Taxi Cab. Joni Mitchell. Joni Mitchell, 1970.
Vinyl recording.
They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swinging hot SPOT
Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
They took all the trees, and put them in a tree museum
Then they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Hey farmer, farmer
Put away that DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But LEAVE me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
Late last night I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi come and took away my old man
Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
I said
Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got ‘til it’s gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Questions to Consider:
1. What is the overall message of this song?
2. How has urbanization impacted the story told in this song?
Document B
Source: Eric Ferkenhoff, “The Greening of Chicago,” TIME, May 12, 2006
Chicago, a blue-collar city of asphalt and glass and concrete canyons, would seem an odd place
for admitted tree-hugger Sadhu Johnston to think he could save the planet. But Johnston,
Mayor Richard M. Daley' s environmental commissioner, believes that cities are actually the
answer to the earth's environmental ills. And with that in mind, he is working to turn Chicago
into what he claims will be the most environmentally friendly city in the U.S. — as well as the
nation's center for environmental design and the manufacturing of components for the
production of alternative energy.
If it works — and Daley is betting a hefty sum it will, with promises to buy millions in solar
panels, for example — the green movement here is expected to yield the city perhaps billions in
saved energy costs and new business. "This is way beyond tree hugging in Chicago," said
Johnston, 31, who before coming to Chicago helped dust some of the rust off of Cleveland's
image by serving as executive director of the non-profit Cleveland Green Building Coalition.
"This is about quality of life. What we're talking about is creating a city that exists in harmony
with the world, a place that can be a model. Cities have long been hurtful to the environment.
Raw materials came in and waste went out. We' re trying to redefine that relationship, and cities
can be models."
In much the same way that cities like Austin and San Francisco latched onto the boom in the
Internet or biotech industry to propel their economies, Chicago is working hard to rev up its
manufacturing and capitalize on the growth in green construction and wind and solar energies.
But can Chicago, such a muscular city, shake its industrial, broad-shouldered image by showing
that cites are not the bane of the environment. Does it deserve, in short, the title of America's
Green Thumb?
Questions to Consider:
3. How is Chicago working to become the ‘most environmentally friendly city in the
U.S.?’ Provide examples.
4. Why is Chicago seeking to promote the green movement, considering that it’s
known for its industry?
5. What examples have you seen recently that either supports or refutes Chicago’s
desire to be a “Green City?”
Document C
Source: Joel Kotkin, “The Curious Comeback of U.S. Downtowns,” newgeography,
December 2, 2014
Perhaps nothing better illustrates the idea of urban revival in America than the comeback of many
downtown districts. Yet if these areas have recovered some of their glory, they are doing so in a manner
that hardly suggests a return to their glory days in the first half of the 20th century.
Instead what’s emerging is a very different idea of an urban downtown, as a residential alternative that is
attractive to the young and childless couples, and that is not so much a dominant economic area, but one
filled with a variety of people and interests, usually with a presence of financial institutions, government
offices and business service firms, built within the presence of the residential areas.
The good news: after an era of population declines, these areas are growing again: From 2000 to 2010, the
downtown sections of the United States’ 51 urban areas with populations over a million gained slightly
over 200,000 residents, or 1.3% of all the growth in the nation’s major urban areas. However, 80% of that
growth took place in just six cities — New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston and San
Francisco. In 18 of the 51 downtowns populations declined. Meanwhile, the population in the outer edges
of the 51 urban areas (10 miles beyond downtown) grew by some 15 million.
These trends appear to have continued into the beginning stages of the current economy recovery. In a
survey of 2011-2012 patterns, Trulia found a similar pattern of higher growth near the center of the urban
areas, but even stronger growth rates on the edges. As we have noted since 2000, the slowest growth took
place in the close-in neighborhoods next to the urban core.
The better numbers reflect then not a mass “back to the city” movement but an increase in the market
attractiveness of city centers. And it’s unlikely that the old urban cores will ever come close to recovering
the economic power they once enjoyed.
Questions to Consider:
6. According to the author, how has the concept of America’s downtown areas
changed?
7. How have many American cities been able to revitalize their downtown districts?
Provide examples.
8. Has the revitalization of America’s downtown areas been an overall success?
Why or why not?
Document D
Source: Tom Toles, “The Plan,” Buffalo News Editorial Cartoon, 1998.
Questions to Consider:
9. What is the overall message of this cartoon? Provide details to support your
answer.
10. In what ways does this cartoon deal with the issues of gentrification and sprawl?
11. Consider the publication date of this cartoon. Do you think the author’s
prediction of the future was accurate or not? Explain why.
Document E
Source: CEIC; UN Population Division; The Economist, 2014
Questions to Consider:
12. What trends does this graph predict for future urbanization?
13. Pick one of the countries or regions listed on the chart and evaluate what issues
it is likely to experience as a result of the forecasted urbanization rates.
Document F
Source: Hu Qiangjun, ‘Local Urbanization,’ China.org.cn, 2014
Questions to Consider:
14. What message does this cartoon send about urbanization in China?
15. Does this cartoon provide a positive or negative depiction of urbanization?
Provide evidence to support your answer.
Document G
Studs Terkel, from Division Street: America (1967)
Getting urbanized. I like this term. It means you have to learn the ropes, just like a person
moving out from prairie country into the woods. You know, there are certain dangers in such a
transition, and it’s the same way in a city. You have to learn the ropes. And once you become
urbanized, this means to me that you’re gonna settle down, and you have to have a goal to look
forward to. Otherwise, I think it would drive you crazy.
I’ll tell you the extent to which I’m urbanized, after being here for seventeen years. Some years
ago, we went back to Nebraska, to my wife’s parents’ place. And for three or four nights in a row,
I’d wake up in the middle of the night, feeling there was something drastically wrong. There’s no
fire engines or police sirens passing by, no street noises, it’s funny
Questions to Consider:
1. What message does this article send about urbanization?
2. Does this article provide a positive or negative depiction of urbanization?
Provide evidence to support your answer.
Document H
Skipping Stones (Magazine), October-December 2014
New Delhi, India is now the world’s second most populous city with 25 million inhabitants. Tokyo remains
the largest city with a population of 38 million. While Tokyo's population is projected to decline, Delhi will
continue to grow rapidly, and by 2030 it will contain 36 million people, according to the 2014 projections
of the World Urbanization Prospects by U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
The number of mega cities (with populations of over 10 million) has risen rapidly. In 1990, there were 10
such cities, and now there are 28, and by 2030, there may be 41 mega cities! In Delhi, the pressure of
such rapid increase in population has already started showing. Be it water, power, education, health care,
infrastructure, law and order, or sanitation, all the systems are under immense pressure, which is only set
to increase.
Questions to Consider:
1. What message does this article send about urbanization?
2. Does this article provide a positive or negative depiction of urbanization?
Provide evidence to support your answer.
Document I
New York Times Upfront, January 7, 2013
Inconveniently located: When the town of Wenling in eastern China offered Luo Bagen $20,000 to move
so a road could be built, he refused--and the government simply built the road around him. As part of its
massive urbanization boom in the past 25 years, China now has 46,000 miles of interstate highway
(compared with 47,000 in the U.S.). It plans to build thousands more in the next decade, making battles
like Luo's more likely. Homeowners usually wind up on the losing end, and Luo finally gave up in
November. "it was never a final solution for us to live in a lone house in the middle of the road," he told
the Xinhua news agency.
Questions to Consider:
1. What message does this article send about urbanization?
2. Does this article provide a positive or negative depiction of urbanization?
Provide evidence to support your answer.
Document J
Odyssey, February 2013
Newspaper headlines like this one are common in the Republic of Zimbabwe's newspapers. First-time
visitors to this country in southern Africa are surprised when they hear that the names of the places
where these incidents occurred are towns and cities. They shouldn't be surprised, though, because wild
animals have joined the human urban migration in Zimbabwe.
Even here in Africa where I live, most wild animals still restrict themselves to the countryside, jungles,
and game reserves. Just a decade ago, it was rare to see wild animals roaming in towns and cities.
Today, however, many wild animals have made the concrete jungles their permanent homes.
But why would animals leave their natural habitats and move into urban areas where they have to survive
among people? According to Albert Moyo, a game warden at a private game reserve here, people "leave
the animals with no choice, because they can either stay and starve in the jungles where deforestation
has depleted their food supply, or move into towns."
Human activity pressures the animals in many ways. In Zimbabwe, ecosystems that for centuries
supported numerous animal species now have been replaced by farms, mines, and other human
projects. Modern land-clearing technology has deforested entire jungles in a matter of days, driving out
the species that once lived there and forcing them to find food in new ways. "Few people carry out
Environmental Impact Assessments before they begin their projects," says Farai Makoni, a retired officer
in the Department of Parks and Wildlife Management in Harare. "We people are mostly to blame for this
animal migration."
Questions to Consider:
1. What message does this article send about urbanization?
2. Does this article provide a positive or negative depiction of urbanization?
Provide evidence to support your answer.