Editing Built environment (section)

=== 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.