THe chapter by Zenner reflects urban and rural communities in 21st century. Zenner states that Urbanism is everywhere today. Zenner explores what this distinction meant in recent past and what it means todat. Until today it was convenient to classify communities as either urban or rural. The old disttinction between what is rural and what is urban is becoming much less relevant.
The human population of the world has changed during the 20th century from one that was predominately rural to one that is urban. Our 21st century world is a very different place from whewre our grandparents knew. Today the number of people involved in agriculture is diminishing throughout the world. This trend includes Africa, Middle East and Latin America and Asia.
Many places in the US today are not urban in the sense that there is a distinct city as opposed to the country side. This is in contrast to the model of preindustrial city, which was characteristically a walled settlement contaioning the main institutions of government religion, and trade. By the 19th century city walls had lost their original power, as factoriesgrew on thecity outskirts and avenues of stores replaced the traditional market area.
Most of the discussion of the transcendance of the old urban- rural distinctions has been grounded in examples from America. While the blurring of urban-rural differences is occuring throughout the world, communities are drawn into what we might call the global web of relationships in diverse ways,. One example is China. China is where the pace of industrialization and Urbanization picked up speed in the 1970's and has continued unabated. Millions of people in rural areas have moved into urban centers throughout the country.
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