London as a case study

Abstract

The growth of London into a massive urban area ofdense population has provided a classic example of the tremendous problems of insanitation and disease arising from untrammelled urban development, and of the way in which these problems may be combated by large-scale organization and timely innovation. London has gained special advantages in this respect in recent decades; adequate resources of manpower and materials; an effective voice in Parliament; in the latter and other respects, e.g. power of organization, the advantage of its very size; the determined provision of medical and para-medical services and the application of medical advances on a more accessible scale than in most smaller towns; and a coincident steady improvement in economic conditions.