Pollution in the city

Trends in income and price elasticities of transport demand (1850–2010)

“…From the 1840s, upper and upper-middle class households had sought to move away from the crime, sewage and smoke, and the expansion of urban railway networks enabled them to move to the suburbs (Luckin 2000). The introduction of the Cheap Trains Act of 1883 and a rapid expansion of suburban housing in the 1890s offered an opportunity for lower-middle class families to live in the suburbs and commute into the city (Jackson 2003, Burnett 1986).…”

The demand for environmental quality in driving transitions to low-polluting energy sources

“…But, it was an adaptation to a broader series of social and environmental problems, rather than just to air pollution. During the second-half of the nineteenth century, uppermiddle class families sought to live away from the crime, sewage and smoke that engulfed Victorian cities (Luckin 2000). Over the decades, they moved away.…”

Long run trends in energy-related external costs

“…First, at the end of the nineteenth century, with the advent of commuter railways, population began to spread into more suburban and, so, to live less densely. During the second-half of the nineteenth century, there had been a desire for upper-middle class families to live away from the crime, sewage and smoke (Luckin 2000). The introduction of the Cheap Trains Act of 1883 and a rapid expansion of suburban housing in the 1890s allowed a larger proportion of the population to live in suburbs and commute into the city, leaving the poorest in the centres (Thompson 1982, Jackson 2003, Burnett 1986).…”