Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 17
CBD to Suburbia: Urban
Geography
In This Chapter
Uncovering urban origins
Seeing how they grow
Investigating internal differences
Pondering dust domes and other problems
Ifthe year was1790,then this could beanewspaper headline: 195,000Americans NowLive inCities!
Sounds preposterous, doesn't it? But in fact, in 1790, the first U.S. Census revealed that only 5 percent
of the nation's 3.9 million inhabitants lived in cities, which actually were tiny islands in a sea of rural
settlement and wilderness. In every census since, the urban percentage has marched steadily upward
(as seen in Figure 17-1). In 1920, it exceeded the rural percentage for the time, and has never looked
back. Today around 75 percent of Americans may be categorized as urban. That amounts to about 222
million people out of a total population of some 285 million.
Figure 17-1:
Urban-rural pop-
ulation trend in
the
United
States,
1790-2000.
