Yohanna Martinez

Mrs. Leaver
AP Human Geography
25 April 2016
The Effects of Urbanization
Humans must be wary to not exaggerate their ability to alter the natural world. Since the
beginnings of civilizations, humans of all different cultures have modified the environment to
accommodate their own needs. First through agriculture with irrigation, then through the
Industrial revolution, where skyscrapers, factories, and roads begun to be commonplace instead
of the previous vast open land. With each culture transforming their environment, the attitudes
and values of that distinct population became reflected through their built landscapes and their
social spaces. Yet, despite the addition to a population's unique culture, man-made construction
has decreased the natural world, which desperately needs to be preserved.
When I was visiting New York City, it became clear that the city could be easily
identifiable by its landscapes. The Statue of Liberty, the Empire State, the vertical geography,
were all distinct characteristics that were directly associated with New York City. These tourist
attractions are not only known throughout the world, but convey what its population finds
significant. As New York grew into a World City, the city constructed larger and more trade
buildings and businesses to accommodate its growing economy and its global interaction. Those
landscapes begun to display the populations commercial and capitalizing attitude. When I was
surrounded by numerous different shops and companies in Time Square I could see how New
Yorks central business district emphasized how highly its population valued business and
enterprise. The built landscapes of statues, churches, and memorials, such as the 9/11 memorial,

also worked to reflect what its population values. And New York City is one of many places that
transformation to its landscapes are associated with its beliefs and values. Even in the first
civilizations what people built reflected what they believed. Take the Aztecs for example, who
built grand temples and pyramids which portrayed the value they held their gods. Attitudes
represented by landscapes has been a long standing feature in civilization.
Yet while the culture of cities is being displayed through their landscapes, the
urbanization of a city caused a massive decrease in their natural environment. In New York City,
as the city grew in size and importance, construction spanned outwards, chipping away at the
environment. Not to say that there are no greenbelts in New York. Central Park, one of the most
popular social spaces is visited by numerous people daily, proving that the people still value
nature, but the fact that most of the features of Central Park, such as its lake, are man-made
exposes how much people have modified their environment for their own needs. The need for
more housing to adjust a growing population leads to deforestation, which ultimately transforms
a land completely. And the factories and companies built on that land further contribute to
changing the outside world by polluting the air, further contributing to the deterioration of the
environment. Thus, while the building of new landscapes might benefit the population, the
environment surely suffers.
And so, as a place urbanizes, the distinct values and attitudes of its population are shown
through the landscapes and social spaces that they built. Through these construction, what the
people find meaningful is able to be portray. But though the infrastructure of a city can be highly
beneficial to its people, we must be cautious to not exhaust the natural world with alterations,
instead we must work to preserve our environment.