Essay Sample on Urban Poverty: Widening Divide in Global Cities

Introduction

The nature of living standards in the cities across the world is worsening. Urban poverty is on an upward trend. The outcomes of these deteriorating living conditions include violence, epidemics, and crimes against the poor. According to Massey's strangers in a strange land, the geographic distribution of wealth in the urban settings globally benefits only the elite class and the upper-middle class (Scott and Storper, p6). As a result, a wholly divided social society emerges. It is what Massey predicts of the future based on the issues addressed in the community question. This text will emphasize the growth of industrial cities and highlight a comparison of Massey's understanding of post-industrial urbanism and the presiding era. Furthermore, the version will explain how housing enhances poverty and geographical affluence distribution.

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The Emergency of Industrial Cities and Major Concerns of Early Theorists

A city is termed to be industrial when the town economy and general municipal developments rely heavily on industrial production activities. The factories and the firms within the town determine the economic status of the city. Most cities in the early times are said to have developed out of agricultural production and the industrial scale. The cities were growing from Mesopotamia to America and Asia. These cities were known to have class and geographical diversity. Urbanism has been explained by theories such as economic benefit. New information reveals that most cities had a sparse population, and they were political capitals. Other cities began as trade and business centers while some had religious backgrounds.

The cities that were densely populated gained the momentum out of the industrial commerce activities and developing empires. The city of Manchester, Antioch, and Alexandria are among the cities that emerged out of industrialization. Theorists ascertain that after the Neolithic Revolution, People who were hunters and gatherers were motivated to abandon the activity, and they joined agriculture. The fact that agricultural activities were yielding food made people settle densely around those areas that later emerged and developed to cities. The availability of sufficient food accelerated the development of the cities as the trade of food, and other agricultural products took the lead of the economy. Storage and transportation were needed resulting in infrastructure development. (Scott and Storper, p 12)Factories and industries that processed and manufactured food were constructed, creating jobs, and the centers began to have a series of activities that facilitated trade and a great business.

The emergency of cities at this moment shares the same idea that the theorists suggested must have resulted in the development of cities. A stable social organization and a safe environment form the main conditions that a city needs to develop. Clean water and favorable weather conditions attract people to settle in a place. Theorists claim that urban centers might have developed as people may have come together to gather protection against the Barbarian armies. The idea contradicts Massey's prognosis that city industrialization has resulted in the emergency of a gap of differences between the rich and the poor in the society (Goering and John p111). As the poor suffer and get subjected to violence and abuse in the cities.

Comparison of Massey’s Understanding of Post-industrial Urbanism and the Presiding Era

There are quite number distinctions that come along when a close follow-up is made between Massey's interpretation of post-industrialization urbanism and the earlier period. According to Massey, post-industrialization has brought about many challenges for poor people. Only the rich are having a beautiful moment living in cities because they reside in the most protected areas of the cities. In contrast, the poor reside in the territories that are considered highly insecure. He implies that the rich have a significant say and determination of the leadership of the city and the nations at large (Goering and John pg 97). As a result, the upper-class people are granted security since those regions are violence-free. It is therefore clear that the ruling class receives directives from the elite class, but nobody represents the poor class's voice. It contradicts the past era where people only began to settle in towns because of feeling a sense of protection, as illustrated early in this text.

He says that when selecting the place of developing a city in the post-industrialization era, factors like strategic position and being near to transportation means like roads, modern rails, seas, oceans, rivers, and airports determine the location and construction of a city. However, in the past era, only kings, bishops, generals, and royal family members could determine the location of a city based on the presence of enough food supply that could feed the population. The food could sustain the soldiers, the craftsmen, and the producers.

In the post-industrialization era, cities have become parasitic, something that is contrary to the old towns that were the primary source and supply of food (Hesham and Rahman p58). Agriculture was carried out within the city, and that was the main reason why the areas became densely populated. He says that the current towns rely on rural areas. Agricultural activities are carried out in the local parts of the country that are far from cities and later the food is transported to the towns because the demand is high. It is believed in this era that land is so much limited in town; there is no land for farming activities. The cities, therefore, depend on the rural areas for food to sustain the high population. In the post-industrialization era, cities are known to be insecure places. Some towns have street children, and some have robbery cases. The main reason why this scenario has emerged is that the poor class has been discriminated against. The rich have taken all the resources, and the poor re left with nothing. That forms the backbone of Massey's sentiments that the poor are suffering in the cities while the rich people are enjoying the distribution of resources and other wealth earning portions of the economy.

His idea only agrees with the opinions of the early era that all these cities contributed to the economic value of a city hence influencing the general living standards of the people. The aspect of creating a job by the large scale industrial activities is common in both eras. The city of London and Rome became the first cities to hit a population of one million people. It was mainly because the two towns were industrialized, and the ruling regime lived there hence granting the people a sense of security. Because kings, bishops, generals, and other prominent leaders only lived in cities, it was known that cities were the most secure and protected places because they carried people of class. In this era, the urban centers are charged with being unsafe. According to theorists, at an early age, most cities could have developed and much greater if the kings, bishops, and other rulers were not in control of the resources (Hesham and Rahman p87). These leaders used to impose heavy taxes on people and finally ended up in building their family wealth and empire. It happens to have taken the effect of the past era and has been a big issue even in the post-industrialization period.

How MTO Housing Enhances Poverty and Affluence Geographical Distribution

Moving to opportunity has played a significant role in improving housing and neighborhood effects. When the living conditions of a neighbor are better, there is a sense of security and living without fear. The unfortunate lack of fair housing in every city; there is a clear division of the social class between the rich and the low-income earners. MTO purposely works to eliminate the traces of racial, economic isolation that most public housing people face in their settlement areas. MTO focuses on the isolated interior city areas where residents majorly rely on public housing for lifetime shelter. It is termed as the anti-poverty mission for MTO. Based on MTO, some of the mechanisms that facilitate the concentration of affluence and geographical distribution include the policies that restrict low-income earners that live in public houses not to relocate to private owned rentals. People of the middle-class economy are believed to live in private apartments, and this environment is a little bit friendlier to the residents since the flats are not highly populated like the public housing residents.

MTO analysis reveals that in public housing basements, 40% of the population must have been ranked poor as per the year 1990 while in the private rentals, and only 10% of the population lived in poverty as per the year 1990 (Goering and John pg 41). Based on this policy, there is a strong g sense of economic, racial discrimination that comes as a result of dividing and kind of restricting the place of residence for the poor and the rich. If the poor and the rich cannot mix freely in their area of stay and socialize well, then the rich will always remain vibrant and the poor will hover to suffer. When two people who hail from different economic classes socialize and live together, the poor will benefit from the rich, and the elite will benefit from the poor too. Restricting the residence will increase the gap a hence poverty and geographical affluence distribution will take the lead. Some of how MTO reduces the gap between the elite and the poor include:

• Organizing meetings with the landlords to educate them on the importance of eliminating economic discrimination.
• Analyzing their financial state to determine the family's capability.
• People are counseling the discriminated class and linking them for better residence places.
• People are creating waiting lists so that when a private rental available house is located, the poor are contacted to access it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, based on the challenges that face low-income earners in acquiring their desired place of residence, these related issues combine the old and new concerns that communities face in the urban setting like injustice and unfair treatment due to the financial status of a city or a family. The voice of the poor in the urban areas is always assumed, and their access to freedom and rights is restricted. Considering that insecurity and diseases also attack them more frequently, it becomes automatic that poverty is a disaster to the poor, and the rich still have full control of the resources and determine the economy of the cities. Three or four individuals from an elite family can learn the economy of a town and this sentiment can be seen from Massey's arguments.

Works Cited

Allen J. Scott, Michael Storper. "The nature of cities ." The scope and limits of urban theory 31 March 2004: 1-6.

Goering, John. "Evaluating the Policy Implications of the Moving To Opportunity Demonstration." The impacts of new neighborhoods on poor families in June 2003: 115-119.

Hesham M. Abdel Rahman, Alex Anas. "Theories of systems of cities." 2004: 12-24.