Introduction

Throughout the course, the various films and texts that we examined demonstrate that industrialization, along with the invention and proliferation of new technology, serve as potent forces of both creation and destruction, highlighting both the benefits they provide—economics riches and improved efficiencies—and the negative aspects, such as class struggle and other pernicious consequences that divide rather than unite a society. When considering the effects of industrialization and technology on the urban fabrics of various cities, such as Moscow and Berlin, it is useful to view it through the framework put forth by David Harvey in his essay "The Urban Process Under Capitalism," in which he argues that the urban process consisting of the "twin themes of accumulation and class struggle. Through this lens, industrialization and the advent of technology embody two sides of the same coin of progress that comes at the expense of others. Moreover, a recent force that parallels this phenomenon is globalization, a similarly complex and ambiguous power that compels the society to grapple with the varied consequences it brings, including increased inequality and loss of traditional culture.