vers all the ‘things’ that characterize the fact of the metropolis…The central interest is in the process of urbanization, which can be defined as the phenomenon by which millions of men and women move en masse from rural to metropolitan areas, and - more importantly - which transforms the lifestyle" (Tonnna 5). It is difficult if not impossible to characterize an urban area strictly in term of numbers or density. It requires far more than quantitative analysis but also qualitative analysis to understand the culture and lifestyle as well as the pure data. With this definition in mind, the history of the migration to cities must also be more fully understood. The industrial revolution spurred on a mass migration to the cities in the early part of this century. As jobs in manufacturing began to appear in large clusters at a particular city so did thousands workers to fill those positions. The boom in cities occurred at an astounding rate. "…while the total world population doubled during the first half of the present century, that of the cities with a population of more than 100,000 quadrupled (Tonna 49). This boom began in the United States and continued throughout the world for the next 30 to 40 years. Although the interests of the large corporations, and capitalization in general were well served through the advent of the city, more often that not the city was not a place where individual needs were met. The process of urbanization is unique from all other cultural migrations in that it was the creation of a privileged few for monetary gain and not a migration as a reaction to a social need or problem as had been the pattern in the past."Cities such as Madras and Calcutta, Hong Kong and Singapore were born as support bases for imperialist interests; they exercised commercial, administrative, and military function. These cities, and many others, in Latin America and Africa as well, sprang up from the...
