An integrated summation of works from the textbook, my own interpretation as well as some additions from the lecturer and past students of the module. Well rounded and good for test study and exam preparation.
Urban Geography Lecture 3 ->> FROM GLOBAL TO LOCAL (p3-16)
Global trigger factors
1. Demographic
2. Social
3. Economic – MAIN TRIGGER FACTOR
4. Technological
5. Cultural
6. Political
7. Environmental
The first global trigger factor is economy and this is the dominant force that shapes our cities.
Economic
Phase 1: Competitive capitalism
Free market competition between locally oriented business, where economic and urban
development was largely unconstrained by government. Business and consumerism increased
expanding the national and international labor market along with wage-rate norms.
Phase 2: Organized capitalism
The dynamism of the economic system on the basis of profitability and was enhanced by
Fordism, mass production using an assembly line technique and scientific management. This
mass production was fuelled by higher wages and high pressure marketing techniques. It
involved a mutually beneficial working relationship between capital (business) and labor (trade
unions), mediated by government when necessary to maintain the health of the national
economy.
Phase3: Disorganized capitalism
It has been called disorganized to distinguish it from the organized format of Fordism. The
transition to the new disorganized era was accompanied by increasing globalization of the
economy in which transnational corporations (TNCs) operated beyond the control of national
governments or labor unions. Each new phase of capitalism involved changes in what was
produced, how it was produced and where it was produced.
,Technology
Technological changes, which are integral to economic change, also influence the pattern of urban
growth and change. Innovations have had a marked impact on the structure and functioning of the
global economy and are illustrated by the new international division of labor, in which production is
separated geographically from research and development. The effects of macro-level technology change
are encapsulated in the concept of economic long waves or cycles of expansion and contraction in the
rate of economic development. The cycles of innovation are referred to as Kondratieff cycles. Different
technological eras represented by these cycles shape not only the economy but also the pace and
character of urbanization and urban change. Modification of the urban environment occurs most
vigorously during up cycles of economic growth and technological changes that directly affect urban
form also occur at the local level.
Examples->> New transport technology promoted suburbanization and the high speed elevator allowed
for the building of skyscrapers.
Demography
Demographics changes are among the most direct influences on urbanization and urban change,
movement of people into and out of cities, shape the size, configuration and social composition of cities.
In third world countries expectations of improved living standards attract millions of migrants into cities
while urban dwellers in the West lean towards the “the good life” through suburbanization and
exurbanization. The condition of the urban environment can also affect the demographic structure of
cities by influencing the balance between the rates of fertility and mortality. Demographic changes are
related to other ‘trigger factors’ like economic growth or decline and political change, so some third
world countries induce political attempts to restrict migration, whether within the country to control
over-urbanization or even between countries.
Political
Cities reflect the political ideology of their society. During the middle fifty years of the 20 th century,
development of new towns and reorganization of existing cities reflected the imperatives of a command
economy and centralized political apparatus. The planned socialist city was intended to promote
national economic development and foster social and spatial equity in collective consumption;
accordingly, high priority was afforded to urban industrial development and the construction of large
estates and public housing. After the collapse of communism and relaxation of strict urban-land use
controls, capitalist tendencies like suburbanization and social differentiation in housing became
increasingly evident. In the West, changes in political ideologies and subsequent modifications of
economic and urban policy had major impacts on city development; evident in the rise of agencies such
as urban development corporations and enterprise zones, public-private partnership schemes, property-
led urban regeneration and strategies. Politics and economics exist in a reciprocal relationship, the
outcomes of which can have major impacts of urban change.
Example->> investment by a foreign-owned TNC can affect the future economic prosperity of a city and
its residents.
,Society
Macro-scale changes can have significant impact on the character of towns and cities. Social attitudes
towards abortion or use of artificial methods of birth control may influence the composition of a society
and its cities and popular attitudes towards ethnic or lifestyle minorities can determine migration flows
between countries and cities, as well as underlying patterns of residential segregation within cities.
These new trends have become more evident in the recent increase of suburbanization, facilitated by
not only the economic advancement of individuals and households but by the changing social attitudes
of education, employment and residential status of minorities. Attitude of society towards other
minority groups, such as single-parent households, the unemployed, disabled people and elderly people,
and towards women, conditions their status and location in the city.
Culture
The most significant of cultural changes in Western society has been from the late 1970s onwards, in the
form and rise of materialism and displayed through the conspicuous consumption by those who can
afford it. This is manifested in the formation of a ‘cappuccino society’, characterized by stores selling
designer clothes, wine bars, pavement cafes and gentrification. Some observers claimed to have
identified signs of an emerging ‘post-consumerism’; materialism remains a cultural influence in urban
society and the effect of cultural change on cities is encapsulated in the concept of postmodernity or
post-modernism. This embraces social difference and celebrates variation in urban environments,
whether expressed as architectural or social terms and some youth cultures have flourished in urban
settings. Postmodern urbanism is also evident in the growth of cultural industries related to media and
arts, and in the regeneration and place marketing of historic urban districts.
Environment
The impacts of environmental change on patterns of urbanization and urban change are seen at a
number of geographic sites. Global warming due to the greenhouse effect, caused in part by the waste
outputs of urban civilizations which in turn might require coastal defenses to protect cities. At the local
scale, ‘natural’ phenomena such as earthquakes and landslides can force the abandonment of
settlements (such as 3rd world squatter camps constructed on marginal land) or the settlements may
require major works of reconstruction (Mexico city 1985 earthquake).
Globalization
Globalization is a term used to describe a complex of related processes that has served to increase the
interconnectedness of social life in the (post) modern world. The concept refers both to the
compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole, and this is
evident in 3 forms:
1) Economic Globalization
, Arrangements for the production, exchange, distribution and consumption of goods and services,
seen in the rise on TNCs, the new international division of labor, increases in direct foreign
investment, flexible forms of production and a global financial system.
2) Political Globalization
Arrangements for the concentration and application of power such as the growth of multi-scale
political-economic groupings and consideration of local issues in a global context.
3) Cultural Globalization
Arrangements for the production, exchange and expression of symbols that represent facts,
meanings, beliefs, preferences, tastes and values. Seen in the global distribution of images and
information and the emergent cosmopolitanism of urban life.
There is a reflexive relationship between the global and the local, while global forces lead to change in
the city, cities modify and embed globalization within a local context. Global forces are generally held to
be the most powerful and their control more spatially extensive, whereas, local forces are seen as
weaker in comparison and geographically limited in effect. Local actions may have global consequences
and result in changes in patterns of trade and consumption on the world scale. Globalization should not
automatically be regarded as leading to the disintegration of local life. The reflexive nature of the global
–local relationship is evident in the world of international finance, where in the place-bound daily lives
of most people, particularly those without the mainstream of advanced capitalism, globalization may
promote a search for identity in a mobilized world. Globalization is a highly uneven set of processes
whose impact varies over space, through time, and between social groups as global forces may bypass
many people and places. The unevenness of globalization is apparent in all levels of society and at the
world scale; it is seen in the disparities between booming and declining regions, and at the urban scale
in the social polarization between affluent and marginalized citizens. Global connections may also be
pursued actively by local agents, particularly if they create new opportunities for local economic growth.
Glocalization: The localization of the Global
There is a dialectal or reflexive relationship between global and local processes in constructing
contemporary urban environments. The term glocalization has been used to describe the simultaneous
operation of processes of:
i. De-localization ->> (Or de-territorialisation) such as the instantaneity of email communication
across the globe.
ii. Re-localization ->> (Or re-territorialisation) in which global influences interact with and are
transformed within local context, such as in the creation of historic heritage districts in cities.
**READ PG10 & PG11 TO FINSH OFF CHAPTER**
Urban Geography Lecture 4 ->> THE CONCEPT OF URBAN (p18-23 & 31-33)
The Scope of Urban Geography
Urban geographers are concerned to identify and explain the distribution of towns and cities and the
socio-spatial similarities and contrasts that exist within and between them. There are two basic
approaches to urban geography:
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