Londoners Conquered Nature, and Then They Missed It

A view of the Bank of England in the 1880s, showing some of the pollution and bustle of the biggest city in the world (public domain)

In the 1800s, London became the largest city in the history of the world. Its population rose from 630,000 in 1710 to 1.4 million in 1815, and then doubled again to 3.1 million by 1860 — likely twice as big as any city in human history before this.

As the population rose, London industrialized, and it became almost unlivable due to pollution (in fact, for much of the…