1. Urbanization
By Channing Shattuck

2. Clough
Will 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.

3. Kotkin Articles
Tall 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.

4. Section II: Conquering and Settling the West
Brown - Gridded Lives
Section IV: Immigrants and Cities
Nugent - The Great Transatlantic
Migrations
Rybczynski - The City in the Land of the
Dollar

5. America Compared
There 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.

6. America Compared
Chicago; 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.

7. America Compared
Brazil 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.

8. Foreign Policy Articles
Foreign 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.