urbanism

Dealing with human wastes was a huge problem in cities at the beginning of the 19th century. The ways in which sewage and sanitation were handled (or not) often led to large-scale outbreaks of disease that killed thousands of people every year, and sometimes even more bizarre and spectacular disasters like the Great Stink of London (1858) or the infamous SS Princess Alice sinking. By 1920, though, at least in North America and Western Europe, huge strides had been made to alleviate the poop problem. This video traces the development of sanitation technology and practices, the thinking that made them possible, and the stories of some of the people prominent in the history of urban poop. It's a smelly episode of environmental history, but may be more interesting than you might have thought at first!

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