Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
felt threatened. It is also important to emphasize the role played by associations such
as Health of Towns Association established in Britain in 1844. Branches were quickly
established by business and social elites in most major centres. Their members orga-
nized public meetings to present facts on mortality variations and exerted great pres-
sure on governments to create laws that led to the development of sanitary and clean
water systems in towns, as well as Public Health officials to monitor and often agitate
for change (Ashton and Ubido
1991
). They helped promote the idea that there must
be improvements in the physical fabric of towns and their infrastructures. Yet there
were still those who believed the fault for the conditions in these areas of squalor lay
in the poor themselves, either because people were too lazy or immoral to improve
their condition, or they were simply inferior and prone to disease.
Four main sets of changes were crucial in transforming the urban health condi-
tions of many settlements. The main one consisted of
improvements in the physical
fabric of cities
, helped by a series of major public health acts and new technologies.
For example, in Britain, the 1845 and 1875 Public Health Acts laid down enforce-
able building standards, not simply in construction but in minimum sizes of houses
and lay-out, plus tarmac roads, as well as the requirement for small gardens and at
least outside toilet facilities (Hall
1988
). Critical in these changes were the addition-
al requirements for a clean water supply and new sewer lines to connect the housing
areas to plants to disperse and process the sewage, although initially many dumped
it into the nearest water body, where many obtained their water. Increasingly it was
the responsibility of the municipal government to provide such facilities, in addition
to fire protection, garbage collection services, and the banning of animal husbandry
in urban areas to reduce their waste. This led to greater powers for local govern-
ments in providing these services, replacing previously inadequate and sometimes
private provision, as well as the important addition of Medical Officers of Health
to monitor health conditions in local areas. Although often known as the 'sanita-
tion phase' it may be better summarized as a
regulatory and engineering phase of
improvement.
It was the engineering advances in supplying water from often distant
reservoirs, and then filtering water—first through sand and later disinfection with
chlorine to kill microbes—that led to clean urban water supplies, which were later
helped by the invention of engines that allowed water to be pressurized for further
distribution to residences. Another major change came with the development of toi-
lets, using the new water supplies, where the flushed water containing human waste,
was carried away by new sewer systems that also removed other waste water. Later,
the addition of sewage processing plants to process the effluent improved the sys-
tems, instead of the earlier approach of just dumping it into the nearest water body,
although far too many urban places still do. Also the new regulations included ef-
fective inspection systems that controlled and improved building quality and indus-
trial plants, and eventually, the safe disposal of toxic by-products. Overcrowding
was gradually reduced by decisions to eradicate older slum areas and build at lower
densities, while the development of unions gave workers more ability to argue for
workplace safety, as well as better wages.
The creation of a better physical urban environment helped reduce the spread of
water and airborne communicable diseases. A second set of factors dealing with broad
