Do Cities ‘Modernize’ the Developing Countries? An Examination of the South Asian Experience
- 3 June 1974
- journal article
- cities
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Comparative Studies in Society and History
- Vol. 16 (3), 266-283
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0010417500012445
Abstract
The City is a civilizing influence. This is one of the enduring themes of western thought. The crowding, filth, and exploitation of the industrial city in nineteenth-century Europe could not dampen the enthusiasm of urbanists such as Weber, Ruskin, or Spengler; nor is there any dearth of eulogizers of today‘s sprawling megalopolis. This mode of thought has also found its way into the poor countries of the third world, where the overwhelming majority lives in isolated villages. The current message for them is to seek urbanization if they want to be prosperous. This is the essence of a now familiar proposition that cities are necessary for economic development.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Strategy of Deliberate UrbanizationJournal of the American Institute of Planners, 1968
- Cities in Social TransformationComparative Studies in Society and History, 1961