Working Paper #374
Their Cities, and Ours
Witold Rybczynski
Demographics Development Europe United States Urban
The global city is a misnomer. Cities are shaped by local forces and national policies. For example, American cities, unlike their European counterparts, have experienced rapid growth as a result of national population growth. U.S. population grew by 74 percent compared with only 15 percent in the U.K and America has experienced internal mobility on a scale unknown in Europe Government transportation policies and technological initiatives have affected urban growth. More than half of American families owned a car by the mid-1920’s anticipating European ownership levels by forty years. The high rates of car ownership and plentiful vacant land have favored far-flung suburbs. The resemblances between American cities and cities around the globe are, and will remain, superficial.