Stephanie Grasso
Lewis Code
AP/SOSC 1731: Cybercities
December 19th 2014
Defining the Transition: Pre-Industrial to Post-Industrial City The tradition period the city undertook through its change from pre-industrial to post-industrial occurred over a long series of events. These events occurred to different locations at different times and over a long period of time. Each phase of development meant something different for the forms and functions of the present city. The most dominating examples of these changes include urban form and land use, density of residential locations, and economic and social change. All of which changes due to the development of transportation and communication innovations. It is through these elements that the differences between the pre-industrial and post-industrial city may be highlighted. In the pre-industrial urban form and land use was understood to be very compact and limited. Due to the lack of transportation abilities home, workplace, grocery stores and all other shops were in extremely close proximity to one another. Since communication was limited to face-to-face interaction and transportation was typically achieved through walking or carts, citizens needed to be in close proximity to one another in order to sustain themselves. The organization of homes was compact and placed in grid like patterns in order to salvage space. This began to change as the city transitioned into an industrialized place. As transportation and communicative innovations began to increase so did the distances between citizens and the city. Rail lines, mass transit, and automobiles are just a few examples which allowed for the distance between workers and the workplace to increase. Manufacturers and business could also spread out farther from the city core along transportation lines and residential areas soon followed. The form and organization of homes began to change as well. Lots began to get bigger and be placed non-linear, curved lines due to conformation and ease of roadwork. In the post-industrial city the possibility of commuting to work increased, you could get a bigger piece of land for lower prices the farther from the city you travelled. There were no longer gaps between the city core and suburban areas and land outside of the city began to be used for businesses and residential areas. The density of the city also began to change and innovate as the city transitioned. The pre-industrial city began with high density areas due the lack of transportation and communicative abilities. The size of the city was very compact and communication within it was so limited that citizens could not sustain themselves if they lived at too far a distance from the city core. Thus, the city was dense and congregated within a single area. As transportation and communication abilities began to grow so did the size of the city. It became much larger in size and suburban locations began to congregate farther from the city core than ever before. This resulted in an increase of city growth and a decrease of city density. Suburbs began to congregate around transportation lines and create gaps and fragments between itself and the original pre-industrial city core. The post-industrial city, however, became far more dense once the invention of the automobile took reign. There began an infill of land between these congregated clusters as the automobile provided citizens with an easy and personal transportation. The city core was still the most dense area of land within the city, however, and density slowly decreased the farther from the core you travel. The economic and social structures of the city also changed as it transitioned from pre- to post-industrial. It began as a very simple social and economic structure. There were the elites/aristocracy which owned and sold the land and there were the lower