What Makes Urban Environments Unique?

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What makes urban environments unique?
The urban environments were extremely different from small towns in many aspects including infrastructure, population, norms, and cohesion. The uniqueness of the urban environment as compared to small towns can be seen in the texts by Friedrich Engels and Ferdinand Tönnies. In his examination of the condition of the working class in England, Engels examines some of the aspects that make the urban environments unique. Tönnies’ examination of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft can help one understand the uniqueness of the urban environment as compared to small towns. Weak social ties, anonymity, and rationality in urban environments shape human relations and cultures and promote freedom.
The key attributes that make the urban different from small towns are weak social ties, anonymity, and rationality. Compared to small towns, urban environments are characterized by weak social ties. While the populations of urban environments are high and people live in close proximity to one another, they are not socially connected as compared to people in small towns. As noted by Engels in his description of London, the people in the city crowd by one another as though they share nothing (1). He notes that there is a brutal indifference. This cannot be said of small towns because of the presence of strong social ties encouraged by social institutions such as churches and family. There is also anonymity in urban environments where one’s actions are invisible to the members of the society. This means that people can urban environments can engage in whichever activities they like as long they do not interfere with the laws of the state (Tönnies 19). Rationality is another attribute that distinguishes the urban environment from small towns. As people ...