Editing Built environment (section)

==History==
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"Built environment" as a term was coined in the 1980s, becoming widespread in the 1990s<ref name=":9" /> and places the concept in direct contrast to the supposedly "unbuilt" environment.<ref name="Moffatt 248–268">{{Cite journal |last1=Moffatt |first1=Sebastian |last2=Kohler |first2=Niklaus |date=2008-06-01 |title=Conceptualizing the built environment as a social–ecological system |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/09613210801928131 |journal=Building Research & Information |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=248–268 |doi=10.1080/09613210801928131 |bibcode=2008BuRI...36..248M |issn=0961-3218 |s2cid=111275156|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The term describes a wide range of fields that form an interdisciplinary concept that has been accepted as an idea since classical antiquity<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burns |first=Alfred |date=1976 |title=Hippodamus and the Planned City |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4435519 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=414–428 |issn=0018-2311 |jstor=4435519}}</ref> and potentially before. Through the study of [[anthropology]], the progression of the built environment into what it is today has been able to be examined. When people are able to travel outside of urban centers and areas where the built environment is already prominent, it pushes the boundaries of said built environment into new areas. While there are other factors that influence the built environment, like advancements in architecture or agriculture, transportation allowed for the spread and expansion of the built environment.

=== Pre–industrial Revolution ===
Agriculture, the cultivation of soil to grow crops and animals to provide food as well as products, was first developed about 12,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Development of Agriculture {{!}} National Geographic Society |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/development-agriculture |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org}}</ref> This switch, also called the [[Neolithic Revolution]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Neolithic Revolution |url=https://www.history.com/topics/pre-history/neolithic-revolution |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref> was the beginning of favoring permanent settlements and altering the land to grow crops and farm animals. This can be thought of as the start of the built environment, the first attempt to make permanent changes to the surrounding environment for human needs. The first appearance of cities was around 7500 BCE, dotted along where land was fertile and good for agricultural use.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=The History of Cities {{!}} National Geographic Society |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/history-cities |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org}}</ref> In these early communities, a priority was to ensure basic needs were being met. The built environment, while not as extensive as it is today, was beginning to be cultivated with the implementation of buildings, paths, farm land, domestication of animals and plants, etc. Over the next several thousand years, these smaller cities and villages grew into larger ones where trade, culture, education, and economics were driving factors.<ref name=":10" /> As cities began to grow, they needed to accommodate more people, as well as shifted from focusing on meeting survival needs to prioritizing comfort and desires – there are still many individuals today who do not have their basic needs met and this idea of a shift is within the framework of the evolution of society.<ref name=":9" /> This shift caused the built aspect of these cities to grow and expand to meet the growing population needs.

=== Industrial Revolution ===
[[File:Transactions of conference held March 9 to 13, 1914, at Liberty buildings, Liverpool (1914) (14782417514).jpg|thumb|1914 proposed street drawing]]
The pinnacle of city growth was during the [[Industrial Revolution]] due to the demand for jobs created by the rise in factories.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=Industrial Revolution and Technology {{!}} National Geographic Society |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/industrial-revolution-and-technology |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=education.nationalgeographic.org}}</ref> Cities rapidly grew from the 1880s to the early 1900s within the United States. This demand led individuals to move from farms to cities<ref name=":11" /> which resulted in the need to expand city infrastructure and created a boom in population size.<ref>{{Cite web |title=modernization - Population change {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/modernization/Population-change |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> This rapid growth in population in cities led to issues of noise, sanitation, health problems, traffic jams, pollution, compact living quarters, etc.<ref>{{Cite web |title=City Life in the Late 19th Century {{!}} Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900 {{!}} U.S. History Primary Source Timeline {{!}} Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/rise-of-industrial-america-1876-1900/city-life-in-late-19th-century/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref> In response to these issues, mass transit, trolleys, cable cars, and subways, were built and prioritized in an effort to improve the quality of the built environment. An example of this during the industrial revolution was the [[City Beautiful movement]]. The City Beautiful movement emerged in the 1890s as a result of the disorder and unhealthy living conditions within industrial cities.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1258269397 |title=Oxford research encyclopedia of American history |year=2013 |editor=Jon Butler |isbn=978-0-19-932917-5 |location=New York, NY |oclc=1258269397}}</ref> The movement promoted improved circulation, civic centers, better sanitation, and public spaces. With these improvements, the goal was to improve the quality of life for those living in them, as well as make them more profitable.<ref name=":12" /> The City Beautiful movement, while declined in popularity over the years, provided a range of urban reforms. The movement highlighted city planning, civic education, public transportation, and municipal housekeeping.<ref name=":12" />

=== Post Industrial Revolution to present ===
The invention of cars, as well as train usage, became more accessible to the general masses due to the advancements in the steel, chemicals, and fuel generated production. In the 1920s, cars became more accessible to the general public due to [[Henry Ford|Henry Ford's]] advances in the assembly line production.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1920s consumption (article) {{!}} 1920s America |url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/rise-to-world-power/1920s-america/a/1920s-consumption |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Khan Academy |language=en}}</ref> With this new burst of personal transportation, new infrastructure was built to accommodate. Freeways were first built in 1956 to attempt to eliminate unsafe roads, traffic jams, and insufficient routes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Interstate Highway System |url=https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/interstate-highway-system |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=HISTORY |date=7 June 2019 |language=en}}</ref> The creation of freeways and interstate transportation systems opened up the possibility and ease of transportation outside a person's city. This allowed ease of travel not previously found and changed the fabric of the built environment. New streets were being built within cities to accommodate cars as they became increasingly popular, railway lines were being built to connect areas not previously connected, for both public transportation as well as goods transportation. With these changes, the scope of a city began to expand outside its borders. The widespread use of cars and public transportation allowed for the implementation of suburbs; the working individual was able to commute long distances to work everyday.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-02-28 |title=City and Suburb |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/america-on-the-move/city-and-suburb |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=National Museum of American History |language=en}}</ref> Suburbs blurred the line of city "borders", the day-to-day life that may have originally been relegated to a pedestrian radius now encompassed a wide range of distances due to the use of cars and public transportation. This increased accessibility allowed for the continued expansion of the built environment.

Currently, the built environment is typically used to describe the [[interdisciplinary]] field that encompasses the design, construction, management, and use of human-made physical influence as an interrelated whole. The concept also includes the relationship of these elements of the built environment with human activities over time—rather than a particular element in isolation or at a single moment in time, these aspects act together via the multiplier effect. The field today draws upon areas such as [[economics]], law, [[public policy]], [[sociology]], [[anthropology]], public health, [[management]], [[geography]], design, engineering, technology, and [[environmental sustainability]] to create a large umbrella that is the built environment.<ref name="Moffatt 248–268" />

There are some in modern academia who look at the built environment as all-encompassing, that there is no natural environment left. This argument comes from the idea that the built environment not only refers to that which is built, arranged, or curated, but also to what is managed, controlled, or allowed to continue. What is referred to as "nature" today can be seen as only a commodity that is placed into an environment that is constructed to fulfill the human will and desire.<ref name=":13">{{Cite web |last=Michelbach |first=Christian |title=I Hate Nature |url=https://msp.world/academic-research/writings/i-hate-nature/ |access-date=2022-12-16 |website=Martha Schwartz Partners |language=en-US}}</ref> This commodity allows humans to enjoy the view and experience of nature without it inconveniencing their day-to-day life.<ref name=":13" /> It can be argued that the forests and wild-life parks that are held on a pedestal and are seemingly natural are in reality curated and allowed to exist for the enjoyment of the human experience. The planet has been irrevocably changed by human interaction. Wildlife has been hunted, harvested, brought to the brink of extinction, modified to fit human needs, the list goes on. This argument juxtaposes the argument that the built environment is only what is built, that the forests, oceans, wildlife, and other aspects of nature are their own entity.