Human species has experienced living in the wild and the forests for thousands of years. We have come a long way from there and today most of us live in the cities - the ultimate escape from nature and what we call urbanization. It involves the movement of people from rural to urban man made cities, shift from agriculture to jobs,businesses, trade and the change in the attitudes, beliefs and behaviour patters of the migrants. This process of urbanization can be seen all over the world. Being born and brought up in India, I have seen the country shift from a purely agrarian society to a massive urban industrialized concrete jungle. I hate to say this but in India and most other developing countries the urban development has come to such a point where if we do not learn to build and design our cities with respect for nature, we won't have any nature left amongst us. From India (Delhi and Mumbai), I came to Philadelphia, moved to Virginia and ended up in New York City - some of the most developing and urbanized cities respectively in the world - seen it all! The only rural experiences I had in India is when I visit my grandparents and in the United States was when I went to a small town in upstate New York called Dolgeville. I must say I do enjoy the serenity of these places initially and enjoy the friendly atmosphere but deep in my heart I have become a city person - I like my space.
I agree with Wirth's argument to a certain extent about people in cities having weaker bonds and competition prevailing over cooperation. Traveling in a Subway in New York city is such a learning and enlightning experience every morning to see how people behave and react to various situations. Many of us board the trains with books,magazines, ipads in our hands and ipods in our years or talking or playing on the cellphones. As Wirth puts it ' through such appearances of apathy we can avoid unwanted trangression of social boundaries'.
I agree with Wirth's argument to a certain extent about people in cities having weaker bonds and competition prevailing over cooperation. Traveling in a Subway in New York city is such a learning and enlightning experience every morning to see how people behave and react to various situations. Many of us board the trains with books,magazines, ipads in our hands and ipods in our years or talking or playing on the cellphones. As Wirth puts it ' through such appearances of apathy we can avoid unwanted trangression of social boundaries'.
No comments:
Post a Comment