Chicago's More Similar to Ancient Rome Than you Think

          A city in present day American can be similar to one in ancient Greece but at the same time has vast differences. After all, people living in 50 B.C. have many of the same desires and instincts as individuals living in the modern world. However the relationship of how the city is run is quite complex. And government must help the city while not enforcing to much of a hands-on approach.

          Society is always going to need food, water and places to work. One downfall of ancient Rome was that the ruler of the time put so much devotion to pleasure that basic necessities that a city needs to provide such as trash collection began to pile up and the city became a cesspool. A contemporary example would be when a New Jersey highway closed lanes at a toll plaza, resulting in mass traffic jams. Both examples show that in order for cities to be successful, services must be provided for the inhabitants. So cities are similar in the aspect that they must provide basic services for their inhabitants but at the same time Chicago and Detroit are vastly different. Both cities provided basic services for their inhabitants but the reason for growth is where differences emerge. Chicago is adjacent to Lake Michigan and the road to the West naturally traveled through the city. Because of this Chicago was able to obtain huge stockyards leading the city to be dubbed, “Hog butcher for the World.” The stockyards were able to attract the masses to move to Chicago to obtain employment. Similarly Detroit was able to grow in part due to the flux of the Auto industry. These employment services are in contrast to rural areas. Individuals migrate to cities to find work. Chicago though was not completely depended upon the stockyards. Chicago had be able to attract many major companies to invest in Chicago. The World’s Fair of 1893 

 being held in Chicago is a perfect example of how Chicago was able to not be solely dependent upon on service (stockyards). This is in contrast to Detroit where the Great Recession caused the auto industry to take a massive hit. Detroit didn’t have the necessary services to provide to its’ inhabitants and this resulted in an exodus from the city. The point is Cities need to provide a multitude of services. The more the services often directly results in that city’s continual growth. However this isn't always the case. The growth of services must occur naturally. China provides a great example. While China has been experiencing massive economic growth cities have tried to continual provide more and more services. The largest mall in the world based upon gross leaseable area, the New South China Mall is 99% vacant since opening in 2005 (Forbes.com).

So despite providing a plethora of services the city was not ready for the mall. The takeaway is that the government and the private sector can't just throw money at providing new nonbasic services if the city isn't ready.

          But how to build cities successfully is the subject of much debate. As already described, all cities need basic services such as drinkable water in order to function. But the development of the city is the subject of great interest and debate. A downfall of many ancient cities is that they failed to provide many services, often resulting from poor decisions by the government. The level of government interaction though needs to be a balance. If you take Chicago you can go from one neighborhood such as Chinatown and walk less than a mile and and enter a neighborhood vastly different. What makes up these neighborhoods is the subject of great interest. Why does Chicago have the level of diversity as opposed to say London in the 17^th century is a difficult question that, like an onion, has multiple layers of explanation. No doubt the government plays a crucial role in how services are provided to the city.

          So, to sum up cities are complex. In order for a village to become a city employment services are needed. In order for the city to sustain the population basic human services such as waste management needs to be provided. Then for a city to grow it needs to provide diversity, have multiple employment options, as well as entertainment options, in order for individuals to stay in the city. So, it seems that governmental interference, is needed to some degree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9yfZBZdQaM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/chris-christie-bridge-scandal/