City, Urbanization And American Urban Problems

Urbanization is a great achievement in human history as well as a necessary way to modernization. The city has bred the modern civilization and provided man with an environment to realize his value and his dream. At the moment China is facing a pressing task of speeding up urbanization and building cities to satisfy people's needs for survival and development. However, there is much misunderstanding concerning city and urbanization, especially the purpose of urbanizatioaAs a highly urbanized country, America has provided the world with precious experiences in urbanization. Based on the analysis of the nature and the functions of the city and the significance of urbanization, this thesis is to examine the process of American urbanization, the distinct traits it bears, the key urban problem-oversuburbanization-emerging during the process, and the federal government's effort to solve the problems. Then the thesis raises some constructive suggestions for urbanization in China. This thesis is divided into five chapters.Chapter I discusses about the nature and the functions of the city, and the significance of urbanization. This is the point of departure of the whole thesis, i.e. if a city is successfully constructed, it should be able to offer people a good environment and satisfy people's needs for survival and developmentChapter n gives a brief review of the history of American urbanization and points out its four main characteristics: centralization, decentralization, fragmentation and disorganization. The large-scale population migration made the cities so crowded that they had toexpand outward continuously to release the pressure. Such disordered migration and expansion, together with the maladjustment of the city functions have aroused serious social problems.Chapter III examines in detail the key urban problem "oversuburbanization" in the twentieth-century America. It is manifested by the disordered overspread of the suburbs, the downfall of the central cities, the exacerbation of racial conflicts, and the polarization between the rich and the poor. Then the thesis analyzes the direct causes of oversuburbanization: the deep-rooted racial discrimination and the misguided federal housing and transportation policies in the early stage.Chapter IV retrospects the train of thought of the federal government on its series of urban policies since the late 1940s to combat oversuburbanization and gives a comment on these measures and explains the fundamental reasons why the federal urban policies always face a paradoxical situation.Chapter V concludes the whole thesis, and raises some further questions and suggestions for urbanization in China: the sustainable development of urbanization, the role of the central government in urbanization, the ownership of land property, and the social equality in suburbanization. The thesis also proposes that a correct understanding of the nature of the city is essential in order to build a human and harmonious environment for people to develop themselves, and to face the challenge of globalization and new economy civilization.