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Do Cities ‘Modernize’ the Developing Countries? An Examination of the South Asian Experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2009

M. A. Qadeer
M. A. Qadeer
Affiliation:
Queen's University, Canada
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Extract

The City is a civilizing influence. This is one of the enduring themes of western thought. The crowding, filth, and exploitation of the industrial city in nineteenth-century Europe could not dampen the enthusiasm of urbanists such as Weber, Ruskin, or Spengler; nor is there any dearth of eulogizers of today‘s sprawling megalopolis. This mode of thought has also found its way into the poor countries of the third world, where the overwhelming majority lives in isolated villages. The current message for them is to seek urbanization if they want to be prosperous. This is the essence of a now familiar proposition that cities are necessary for economic development.

Type
Cities
Information
Comparative Studies in Society and History , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , June 1974 , pp. 266 - 283
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Comparative Study of Society and History 1974

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References

An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Third World Congress for Rural Sociology, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.A., August 23, 1972.

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