I find it very interesting to look at ambitious developing countries and all of the facets of their modernization: the cultural cost of building new infrastructure, the influence of Western culture on developing countries (ie globalization) and the world’s perception of urbanization. Obviously urbanization/modernization goes hand-in-hand with globalization, and as such I plan on comparing suburban cultures in India and China versus that of the US and exploring the culture of materialism that accompanies modernization. I think that the questions that I am trying to get at are: what is lost with modernization/urbanization and what is its cost? What is to be gained through urbanization/modernization? Where is all of this headed? Where will the children play?

A clarification of terms:

Urbanization, modernization and globalization are all topics that overlap heavily, due to the development of our global economy (globalization), third-world countries now have access to the resources that allow them to develop modern infrastructure for their citizens (modernization), who are moving from their villages into the cities (urbanization). I won’t bother to really get my hands dirty with talking about globalization here, as it is ancillary to the other two topics and I have a limited amount of time, so here is a link to what it is.

Modernization and urbanization really go hand-in-hand here, as many many citizens of developing nations are moving to cities in search of jobs and a generally better living situation. As a result of their swelling populations, cities have to develop infrastructure to handle increased traffic, water use and so on. Such is the process of growing a modern city in a third-world country.

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