Making a difference: lessons from history

Abstract

You see a city which has undergone incredible expansion in the last 100 years. What was a small market town of 5,000 people has grown to be a sprawling city of over 80,000 men, women and children, all living on top of one another and competing for space in the narrow city centre streets. Buildings have been thrown up quickly, with little attention to planning or safety; evidence of industry is everywhere, from the breweries in the city centre to the mills and mines on the edge of town. You hear the din of the city streets: vendors yelling their wares, cattle being driven to market, music playing in the distance, children crying. You also hear the noise of industry: the clanking of machines, the blaring of factory sirens, the banging and shouts from the docks. You smell the overpowering stench of sewage flowing down the city streets, the rivers and streams polluted with waste, unwashed bodies, perfumes and spices from distant lands, smoke belching from chimneys. This is a city which has none of the social welfare systems which we take for granted in the twenty-first century. There is no health service free at the point of delivery for citizens, no universal education for children and no legislation regarding building control and sanitation. There is no system of social security and no public housing.