Transcript Global Cities

Photo: Simon Turner
Global cities - the urban age
1: Exploring global cities
Urban age project http://lsecities.net/ua/
1.1: Introducing global cities
Hamlet
Village
Urban area
Town
City
Conurbation
Metropolis
Millionaire city
Megacity
Megalopolis
Small collection of homes – population 10100
Rural in character?
Population less than 10,000
Defined by land use? E.g. 75% built up; by
function?
Larger than a village but smaller than a city
With town charter!
Less than 100,000 population?
Legal status in some countries
Over 100, 000?
Urban area incorporating adjacent centres
e.g. former free-standing towns and
villages. After Geddes 1915
Large urban agglomeration, usually over 1
million?
By definition, over 1 million
Urban metropolis over 10 million
Chain of adjacent metropolitan areas. After
Mumford 1938 The Culture of Cities
World or global
city
A global centre for finance, culture,
political influence (Sassen 1990s)
Eperopolis
‘Continental city’ after Doxiadis 1968
An
urban
hierarchy
City limits?
London commuting
The London plan
Richard
Florida
‘Megalopolis’
Eperopolis or Ecumenopolis
Doxiadis 1968
Changing distribution of cities
www.worldkit.org/population
www.citypopulation.de/world/Agglomerations.html
China: ‘Enter the dragon’
• Most rapid rural-to-urban
transition in human history.
• Under 20% urban 1970 to
over 50% by 2020
• Net addition ½ billion urban
population
• Accounting for ¼ of global
economic growth by 2030
1.2 Defining a global city
• Command points in the organisation of the
world economy
• Key locations and marketplaces for
finance and specialised services
• Major sites of production, including
innovations
• Around 70 worldwide
Sassen Cities in a world economy
Command points in the world economy
Key locations and marketplaces
Competitive cities http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23937216hands-off-barclays-boris-johnson-warns-new-york-mayor-michael-bloomberg.do
Major sites of production
Centres of innovation
• Major information and communication centres
• Access to the largest markets (for specialist and mass
consumption)
• Competitive environment requires business to innovate
• Encourage formal and informal interaction between wide
range of financial, managerial, technical, marketing and
trade skills and experience
• Diverse networks, information loops produce knowledge
capital.
• Global capitalism demands such knowledge
• Even a low innovation success rate leads to a virtuous circle of
innovation and success.
Adapted from Wood, P. (2004) Discovering Cities - Central London GA
www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/gcmm.cfm#map3
2: The challenge of global cities
2.1Urbanisation and development
“for many poor nations, urbanisation has little to do with industrialisation,
but rather is linked with the creation of jobs in the service sector”
(Potter 2008)
Inequality within cities
Life in 21st Century Cities
“we have reached the end
of an era of association of
urbanisation with Western
style industrialisation and
socio-economic
characteristics”
(Dwyer)
2.2 Urbanisation and the environment
London’s ecological footprint
• 125 times its own
area to provide the
resources it
consumes
• 197,500 sq km
• UK has 210,000
sq km productive
surface
www.citylimits.com
www.capitalwastefacts.com
Another view of London
• 8% of UK carbon
emissions
• 12% of population
• 20% of GDP
• Lower waste per
capita
• Less water and
electricity per £1
gross value added
• Lower CO2 per £1
gross value added
Employment 1971-2030
Ecopolis now?
• city builders "worshipped at the altar of the
automotive god, and idealised mobility and
freedom” Peter Hall, professor of planning
and regeneration UCL
• “to improve the social and environmental
condition of cities the top priority is to cut
car use”
The urban consumer
www.citylimits.com
Assessing
sustainability
• Environmental impact – in
terms of resource use
and pollution
• Quality of life – what the
city is like for people to
live in
• Future-proofing – how
well the city is preparing
for a sustainable future
http://www.forumforthefuture.org/
1
Newcastle
2
Leicester
3
Brighton
4
Bristol
5
London
6
Leeds
7
Coventry
8
Plymouth
9
Edinburgh
10
Sheffield
11
Cardiff
12
Nottingham
13
Manchester
14
Liverpool
15
Birmingham
16
Sunderland
17
Derby
18
Bradford
19
Glasgow
20
Hull
London’s future footprint
Household waste
Transport
Photo: Alan Kinder