The major American cities grew in a continuous process, transforming from agrarian to industrial communities (Gordon, 1978). The American cities developed in three distinct stages: the commercial period occurring in 1620-1850, in which trade is the main driver of the economy (Shannon, Kleniewski & Cross, 1983). The 1860-1920s marked the industrial era, in which manufacturing was the central form of income with the cities scale and size growing tremendously. 1920 to present marks the corporate era in which decentralization is one of the main features (Shannno, Kleniewski & Cross, 1983). Downtowns are reorganizing with increases in business-oriented services and corporate offices. However, the period is marked by immense consequences of urban social lives as differentiation of neighborhoods according to social class persists from the industrial city.
In capitalism, American cities form due to the economic activities which force the development of a certain spatial order (Gordon, 1978). Capitalism invests power in shaping the urban environment to the people controlling the production processes to enable them to maximize gains and profits while still protecting them from social costs inflicted by the production process (Gordon, 1978). Therefore, urban centers form due to capital power and inter-class struggles. Large industrial establishment in the urban centers was due to the mass availability of the factors of production. In capitalism, people believe cities must continue to grow as a necessity of advancing industrialization while enabling people to maintain their existing standard of living, and enjoy urban amenities (Gordon, 1978).
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The capitalist process is associated with poverty, high taxation, physical confinement, and inequality it brings hence, causing mass relocations among wealthy residents, and working classes to the suburban areas (Gordon, 1978). Gordon (1978) explains the suburban government as a peculiar American government that is formed from the class struggles accompanying capitalist development, town meeting, and political traditions from the federalist and political era. These suburban governments are discriminative forms allowing the privileged population sectors avoidance in paying the less well-off for their services (Gordon, 1978). Nonetheless, the need to be free from unions, to minimize strikes and cater to the labor troubles in the city motivates the relocation of industries. The suburbanization of the manufacturing sectors affected the income of the cities as they could now avoid paying taxes to the central city government, opposed further annexation of the cities, which they acquired due to influence on the state legislature (Gordon, 1978). Nonetheless, political fragmentation followed with the limitations on the central city extensions.
References
Gordon, D. (1978). Capitalist development and the history of American cities. Marxism and the Metropolis , 40 .
Shannon, T. R., Kleniewski, N., & Cross, W. M. (1983). Urban problems in sociological perspective . New York: Random house.
