1. Urbanization

2. By 1860, most Americans lived in rural areas, with about 16% of the country’s population living in towns or cities with 8,000 or more people
By 1900, nearly 15 million people were living in cities with 50,000 or more people (~30% of US population)
This was a period of urbanization in which the number of cities and people living in them increased dramatically

3. Cities Benefit From Technological Advances
In response to these changes, technological advances began to meet the nation's needs.
Engineering innovations, such as the Brooklyn Bridge and skyscrapers, laid the groundwork for modern American life.
Cities in every industrial area of the country expanded outward from central business districts to suburbs as well as upward as steel allowed buildings to increase in size.

4. As cities grew larger and beyond walking distance, cities introduced new mass transit services, such as trolley lines, elevated rail lines, and subways.
Middle and upper class people moved away from the noise and dirt of the city to clean and quiet areas on the outskirts of the city known as streetcar suburbs

5. City planning started being offered by architectural companies as cities grew larger and more complex
Mass transit allowed city planners to separate parts of the cities for particular functions
Zoning for heavy industry, financial institutions, and residents
Parks and recreational spaces were created to make cities more pleasing to the eye
Frederick Law Olmstead designed NYC’s Central Park which opened in 1857

6. More People More Problems
Growing cities faced many problems caused by overcrowding and poverty
Many people started moving from rural farms to the cities to work in factories in the 1890’s
As technology and industry advanced, making a living on a farm became more difficult so farmers moved in search of better economic opportunities
Factories were more rigorous, but mostly paid in cash (more rare for farmers)
By the 1890’s immigrants and rural-to-urban migrants were flooding into the cities

7. Most of these people were in the lower-class  forced to live within walking distance of work
This created densely populated neighborhoods that were extremely overcrowded and located mostly in or next to industrial zones
Most urban workers lived in tenements  low-cost multifamily housing designed to fit in as many families as possible
Very poor living conditions and little safety regulations often allowed diseases to spread and fires to break out