Was the urbanization good for south America - Essay Example

Thousands of people flocked into America to escape, political oppression they faced in their home countries. Between 1881 and 1890 alone, there were a total of 5,246,613 immigrants who had arrived in America (McKelvey, 1963). As the urban areas grew in size and a number, there were a number of negative social, political and economic effects which were associated with it. The discussion in this paper discusses some of the problems associated with urbanization during the late 19th century. (Wakstein, 1990) The main problem of urbanization during the 19th century was the poor or lack of planning in the cities.

The urbanization in America was mainly accelerated by migration of people, industrialization and technology. The spiral increase in the population did not give government authorities enough time to plan and budget for the increasing numbers (Ghadar&Loughran, 2014). Lack of poor infrastructure and planning resulted to a number of social problems which includes; a number of basic services like police and fire departments were; inadequate disposal system; there was a huge sanitation problem; lack of hospitals and medical facilities; and the geometric growth of the population.

(Wakstein, 1990) There was constant increase in the cases of reported crime in the urban centers. The constant growth in the population, together with reduced police control proved a challenge for the police to control incidences of criminal acts in the cities. Thieves took the advantage of the teeming masses in the cities to rob people. The consumption of alcoholic drinks and other drugs as people tried to escape drudgery and boredom of their daily lives. There was increased violence which included number of people who were murdered in the cities.

The incidences of child labor also went high. (McKelvey, 1963) With the upsurge in the number of people who were flocking the urban cities to