Global cities are strategic spatial nodes of the world economy with localized basing points for capital accumulation in an age of intensified globalization (Brenner, 1998).
(Sassen, 2005), argues that centralization has taken a new form. The major contributor to this new form is reorganization of the financial industry and spatial dispersion of economic activities. This has led to an overall concentration in control and ownership. Dispersion of the economic activities has led to specialization of firms as well as expansion in central functions. The financial industry is characterized by proliferation of financial firms, innovations and increased growth.
Global cities have shown a dominant socioeconomic trend. This includes the labor market segmentation, geography of capital flows, social conflict, expansion of producers and financial services (Brenner, 1998).
According to (Sassen, 2005) activities of production are scattered on a global basis. This has led to complex production networks that demand new innovation. In order to ease their management specialization has advocated for clustering of related activities at different locations. This has enabled coexistence of cities.
Background
Growth and expansion of Global Cities cannot be isolated from public health and the social life. Advancement in technology and economic growth go hand in hand with the existing social systems. Global cities have experienced huge morphological changes within their spatial locations. This is because people have continued to migrate into the cities, causing them to grow in space through time and to experience rapid transformation. This has resulted into many challenges. Poor solid waste management, deteriorated urban infrastructure potholed roads an...
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With urban population growth, both ecological and industrial consequences directly affect those in poverty and the urban poor. Slums usually develop in the worst types of terrain, and lead to flooding, landslides, and fires that destroy thousands of people’s homes. Yet population growth and the amounts of waste created by urban civilizations are also pushed on the hidden faces and locations of those on the outskirts of the cities. “If natural hazards are magnified by urban poverty, new and entirely artificial hazards are created by poverty’s interactions with toxic industries, anarchic traffic, and collapsing infrastructures” (Davis 128).
Again, this section will give a working definition of the “urban question’. To fully compare the political economy and ecological perspectives a description of the “urban question” allows the reader to better understand the divergent schools of thought. For Social Science scholars, from a variety of disciplines, the “urban question” asks how space and the urban or city are related (The City Reader, 2009). The perspective that guides the ecological and the social spatial-dialect schools of thought asks the “urban question” in separate distinct terminology. Respected scholars from the ecological mode of thinking, like Burgess, Wirth and others view society and space from the rationale that geographical scope determines society (The City Reader, 2009). The “urban question” that results from the ecological paradigm sees the relationship between the city (space) as influencing the behaviors of individuals or society in the city. On the other hand...
Throughout her article, Jennifer Robinson presents a strong argument against the concept of "global or world cities". To begin, she explains that urban scholars have studied the idea of the global city by dichotomizing the nation where a city is located by labelling it ‘third world’ or ‘West’. This dichotomy is problematic for many reasons, including the fact that it favors western principles and promotes the expansion of their hegemonic cultural presence. As Robinson explains, “‘Urban theory’ is based primarily on the experiences and histories of western cities — much as Chakrabarty (2000) suggests that the theories and categories of historical scholarship have been rooted both in western experiences and their intellectual traditions” (Robinson
Burgess further went on to write that there being a tendency for each inner zone to extend its reach into another area. Today, however, the center loop doesn’t just have one business but several businesses. And yet, this model and terminology are still being used to urban pl...
Indeed, many global cities face compelling urban planning issues like urban sprawl, population, low density development, overuse of non-renewable natural recourses, social inequities and environmental degradation. These issues affect the cities themselves, the adjacent regions and often even globally. The resulting ecological footprint upsets the balance in adjacent rural and natural areas. Unplanned or organic development leads to urban sprawl, traffic problems, pollution and slums (as evident in the case of Mumbai city). Such unplanned development causes solid waste management and water supply to fall inadequate. Urban sprawl gives rise to low density development and car dependent communities, consequently leading to increased urban flooding, low energy efficiency, longer travel time and destruction of croplands, forests and open spaces for development.
The Negative Effects of Urbanization on People and their Environment As our world becomes increasingly globalized, numerous people travel to urban areas in search of economic prosperity. As a consequence of this, cities in periphery countries expand at rates of 4 to 7 percent annually. Many cities offer entrepreneurs the potential for resources, labor, and resources. With prosperity, cities also allow the freedom of a diversity of ways of life and manners (Knox & Marston, 2012). However, in the quest to be prosperous, increasing burdens are placed on our health and the condition of our environment.
In a world where over half of the human population calls a city their home, the need to restructure and revolutionize the way we design our urban environments has never been greater. Currently, the notion that these vast metropolises of metal, concrete, and sludge could one day be fully realized pillars of sustainability is certainly laughable. However, when these same cities are constantly growing and multiplying across the globe, all the while using a greater and greater chunk of our planet’s energy, this impossible task becomes a necessary focus. To strive towards the closed, continuous loop of “true” sustainability could greatly alter the image of the modern city. Any improvement over the current state of urban affairs could carry weight, and even if that goal is not entirely fulfilled, the gained benefits would be immense.
There are many differences surrounding the urbanization in the Third World versus urbanization in the First World. Although many of these developing countries are highly urbanized they all share a pattern of uneven development that is much more extreme than that found in the older, developed nations (Gottdiener & Hutchison, 2011, p. 283). According to Smith and Timberlake (1993), the main differences between developed and developing nations are factors such as: elite power, state policies, integration into the global economy, and the effects of class structure.
...ffects on human health. These have high negative effects on low income areas, as a result of pollution, visual, oral and air, as well as high levels of overcrowding. The World Health Organisation predicts that in the next 30years most of the world’s population growth will occur in cities and towns of poor countries. This rapid, unplanned and unsustainable pattern of urbanisation, is creating cities into focal points for environmental and health hazards (World Medical Association, 2010).
As the result of urbanization, cities have more problems to overcome such as pollution, overpopulation, drug abuse, congestion, crime, poverty, traffic jam, slum areas, and many more. There must be something to solve these problems. Government and citizens should be involved because taking care of city problems can’,t be done entirely by government. The community can be even more successful because it deals directly with problem areas.
Businesses that produce jobs and capital are usually located in in urban areas. Tourism and trade in cities are the main source of foreign money in a country. The city life is ideal for people who want to m...
Global cities are cities with substantial economic power, controlling the concentration and accumulation of capital and global investments. Despite this, global cities are the sites of increasing disparities in occupation and income. This is as a result of large in-migration and growing income inequality together with capacity and resource constraints, and inadequate Government policies.
If a person living in a city living in the city goes out for a walk, they will see that everything is perfect. The air is fresh and the beaches are clean and the sea waters look crystal clear. Even though everything looks right, problem still persists in other parts of the world. A lot of people’s thinking about the environment is confined to their surroundings and where they live, so they do not realize that the environment is in danger because of their actions. What should come into their concern first is that even though everything looks perfect, their community and surroundings are also polluted. In cities, the streets and the parks may be sparkling clean, there is no guarantee that the air is clean. In large cities, megapolises and metropolises, a major mode of transportation are cars. Car usage produces a lot of carbon dioxid...