Immigration and Urbanization: Key Terms (Video Notes)

Progressive Era concerns: immigration and urbanization

The transcript notes that one of the dominant concerns of progressives was to address rapid changes sweeping the nation in terms of immigration and urbanization.
Immigration trends emphasized that millions of people came from other parts of the globe each year, with a notable concentration from Southern and Eastern Europe.
In addition to international immigration, there was also significant domestic movement: Americans from the countryside moved to cities with growing frequency.
Cities are described as, among other things, a giant pool of labor, which influences where people seek work and where businesses locate.

For job seekers, relocating to a big city makes sense because there are more jobs and more opportunities.
For those starting or running a business, cities offer access to a large pool of potential employees and a dense labor market.
The rapid growth of cities is driven by an underlying economic process: the concentration of labor and opportunities in urban areas leads to more economic activity and further growth.
This reflects a broader principle in urban economics: agglomeration effects and the advantages of locating near a dense labor pool and customer base.

The growth of United States cities during the gilded age and progressive era (roughly the late 19th century into the early 20th century) is framed as part of a much larger global story of urbanization.
Across many countries and regions, humanity has become increasingly concentrated in cities and the suburbs around them over successive centuries.
This urban concentration is not unique to the United States but is a common feature of modern economic development.

The era of rapid urban expansion in the United States spans several decades: the 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, and the 1920s.
The pattern involves core urban centers and the development of suburbs surrounding cities, illustrating a spatial shift in where people live relative to where jobs and economic activity cluster.

If you’re seeking work, moving to a city is advantageous due to the larger number of employment opportunities.
If you’re a business owner, locating in a city provides access to a larger and more diverse labor force.
Overall, urbanization creates stronger labor markets and more dynamic economic activity, reinforcing the appeal of cities for both workers and employers.

Progressives aimed to address the changes associated with immigration and urbanization, signaling a policy-focused response to these demographic and economic shifts.
The discussion highlights the real-world relevance of these dynamics, showing how population movements and urban growth shaped reform agendas and policy debates of the era.
The themes remain relevant today in discussions about immigration, urban planning, labor markets, and the distribution of economic activity between cities and rural areas.

Immigration: large-scale movement of people into a country, contributing to urban growth and labor supply.
Urbanization: the process of becoming more urban in population, density, and economic activity, often accompanied by the growth of cities and surrounding suburbs.
Labor pool: the available supply of workers in a given area, a central driver of where economic activity concentrates.
Agglomeration effects: economic benefits that arise when firms and workers locate near one another in dense urban areas.
Gilded Age: roughly the period of rapid industrialization and urban growth in the United States during the late 19th century; context for the subsequent Progressive Era.
Progressive Era: late 19th to early 20th century reform movement addressing social, political, and economic changes, including immigration and urbanization.
Suburbs: residential areas surrounding cities, whose growth accompanies urban expansion.
Timeline references: the major period of urban growth discussed spans the decades 1870s, 1880s, 1890s, and 1920s.