Tag: history

The poor sanitary conditions in one-room tenements posed a threat of epidemics. Moreover, such houses were also potential fire hazards. To keep the city safe from epidemics and fire, the well-off Londoners supported the need to build housing for the poor in the nineteenth century.

Most of the workers in the film industry themselves were migrants from various parts of the country. They probably better understood the problems of migrants. This is the reason that a number of Bombay films were about the lives of migrants.

Baron Haussman was the town planner who tried to build a perfect city of Paris. In the process, a large number of people were displaced. Al though it resulted in the development of beautiful city, but it ended up alienating a lot of people in the process.

Andrew Mearns, a clergyman who wrote 'The Bitter Cry of Outcast London' in 1880s, showed why crime was more profitable than labouring in small underpaid factories.

London became the world's largest city from about 1831 to 1925. Rising traffic on the city roads led to the creation of the world's first metro system. Because of this rapid growth, London became one of the first cities in human history to reach a population of one million, and was the first ever to surpass five million.

The London underground railway partially solved the housing crisis by carrying large masses of people to and from the city. The very first section of the Underground rail in the world opened on 10 January 1869 between Paddington and Farrington Street in London. Initially, 10,000 passengers used this railway system. In 1880 the expanded train service carried 40 million passengers a year.

As London grew, crime flourished. Almost 20000 criminals were living in London in the 1870s. The police were worried about law and order, Philanthropists were anxious about public morality.

The Singapore government passed a legislature restricting people from migration into the city. As the city was over populated the government felt that more people would lead to crisis. The government also provided with housing for the existing citizens and ensured their safety and well being.