Urban Crisis Essay

The urban crisis is a complex combination of interrelated factors, and it should define separately by the term urban and crisis. In this urban crisis essay this topic is discussed. Urban is the living space of humans and urbanization is the product of social and economic development. Appropriate urbanization spatial strategy is conducive to the organization of resources and promotes the prosperity of countries.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the first urban crisis appeared in the West. De-industrialization and the phenomenon of white scaping, referring to the migration of large numbers of white people from the racially mixed old city to the suburbs with a relatively single race, have led to the loss of core industries and economic functions of the urban areas. This crisis has plunged the entire city into poverty, and the urban area has become 'vacant land', which has led to a reduction in city taxes and increasingly rely on the financial support of the federal government. Many cities have yet to recover. However, the scope of the new urban crisis is broader. The two main signs of the urban crisis are rising economic inequality and rising housing prices. Some of the contradictions of economic imbalance include capital expansion and consumption alienation due to the division of race, class, and gender. In the suburbs, economic inequality and housing inequality are becoming as common in cities. Rising house prices result in spatial inequality and the capitalists have become the most powerful people in the housing market. To continue the expand, they extract the high rent from the real estate and make other classes unfordable to live. From this perspective, the new urban crisis is also an obvious manifestation of the crisis of contemporary capitalism. It has a greater impact on most vulnerable groups, including the 'Boomerang Generation' in the 1990s, who were forced to move back to live with their parents.

One specific empirical example of an urban crisis that referring to the course materials is Detroit's crisis. It perfectly framed the financial crisis, drug crisis, migration crisis, and climate crisis. The Detroit crisis stems from bankruptcy caused by the economic recession, population loss, and the destruction of the tax base. The attractiveness of cities has declined, and fiscal revenue has shrunk. The impact of the oil crisis and financial crisis in the 1960s was a factor in the general environment. In the riot of 1967 is another catastrophe. In this case, it is impossible to open a store and a street stall, so thousands of businesses are permanently closed or moved to other places. The three major auto giants-General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all suspend production. The finical shortage from reduction-government tax results in cuts-public security, education, medical care, and infrastructure deteriorating.

During the crisis, black people are more vulnerable than white and they are easily affected by the crisis due to a variety of education levels and white people with better educational backgrounds are easy to transmit from workers to white-collar workers. The development of the IT industry in the late 90s attracted a lot of investment and provided more job opportunities for whites. The high vulnerability of black is also due to its financial and environmental risks. They were left alone within the city when the rich are capable to move out and left the polluted water for the color people. Migration crisis also occurred in Detroit when more blacks from South comes to the city and rise the house price. 

In conclusion, the crisis can only be defined from two aspects. On the one hand, the crisis has always been regarded as an important part of determining historical events, such as how the COVID pandemic marked a unique historical era in which globalization brought traumatic disasters. On the other hand, the crisis also provides opportunities for society to change. The COVID crisis has reshaped the concept of capitalism and labor. When the terms city and crisis are used together, the urban crisis refers to some historical events and turning points for urbanization and bring opportunities for the entire society to make changes and reshape the value.