Cities all over the world are getting bigger as more and more

Alan Dundes, with the gaze of one who saw beneath the surface of society, declared: “Cities all over the world are getting bigger as more and more people move from rural to urban sites, but that has created enormous problems with respect to environmental pollution and the general quality of life.” These words are both observation and warning, a mirror held to the destiny of humanity. For in them lies the story of civilization: the rise of great cities, their allure of wealth and opportunity, and the shadow they cast in the form of smoke, filth, and spiritual exhaustion.

The meaning of this saying is not hidden but shines in painful clarity. Dundes points to the relentless tide of urbanization, where men and women, seeking work, knowledge, or fortune, abandon the fields for the crowded streets. Yet what they find is not always abundance but congestion—pollution of the air, the water, and even the human spirit. For in the crowding of millions, the quality of life becomes burdened with noise, with waste, with the loss of green spaces and the simple rhythms of rural existence. His words are a lament for what is sacrificed when cities grow without wisdom.

The origin of Dundes’s reflection can be traced to the twentieth century, when the movement from rural to urban life reached unprecedented scale. The industrial revolution had already drawn multitudes into cities of smoke and steel, but the modern era magnified this migration. As a folklorist and observer of culture, Dundes was less concerned with statistics than with meaning—he saw how the growth of cities reshaped not only economies but also traditions, health, and the environment itself. His words remind us that the story of urban growth is not only about progress, but also about loss.

History bears witness to this truth. Consider the city of London in the nineteenth century, swollen with the influx of rural workers. The promise of industry was wealth, yet the reality was soot-darkened skies, streets thick with waste, and epidemics like cholera that spread through polluted water. Dickens wrote of this London with sorrow, portraying the suffering of the poor amid industrial splendor. Here Dundes’s words come alive: urban growth brought power and innovation, but also pollution and a diminished quality of life for countless souls.

There is something deeply emotional in his warning, for it touches not only the body but also the spirit of humanity. In the village, one may still see the stars, hear the song of birds, and live with closeness to nature. In the city, those same sights and sounds are replaced by neon lights, the roar of traffic, and the press of anonymous crowds. The cost is not only in health, but in soul. Dundes, in his way, grieves that progress measured by population growth and industry may yet be regression in the realm of human flourishing.

To future generations, his words serve as both caution and call to wisdom. The caution is that unchecked urban growth will lead to further degradation: poisoned air, clogged rivers, restless minds. The call is that cities, if they must grow, must grow wisely—with clean technologies, green spaces, and designs that honor the needs of both earth and people. For the problem is not the city itself, but the blindness of building without care. A city can be a garden or a prison, depending on the wisdom of those who shape it.

The lesson is clear: whether you live in city or countryside, live with awareness of the earth. Do not consume thoughtlessly, do not discard wastefully, do not allow greed to dictate the shape of your community. Support leaders who prioritize sustainability, seek balance between technology and nature, and, in your own life, plant seeds—literal and metaphorical—wherever you dwell. For the quality of life is not measured only in wages or buildings, but in the breath of clean air, the flow of pure water, and the strength of a people whose souls remain unbroken by the weight of smoke and stone.

Thus Dundes’s words endure: “Cities all over the world are getting bigger… but that has created enormous problems with respect to environmental pollution and the general quality of life.” Let these words not be mere lament, but a call to rise in wisdom. For if humanity learns to build not only with ambition but with reverence, the cities of tomorrow may yet shine—not as monuments to greed, but as sanctuaries of harmony between man and earth.