Capitalism and the urban environment Capitalism plays a direct role in shaping the urban environment and the city. The geography of the city is not formed by natural forces. But rather, it is the result of the power of capitalism, through creating markets and controlling the workforce. Capitalist corporations have a consistent need for new markets and more advantageous locations. They are always on the lookout for lower labor costs, weaker unionization and tax concessions. The state plays a major role in influencing these corporations’ choice as well as shaping the urban environment. Harvey gives the example of the post-war expansion of suburbia and how the state has influenced it by taking many measures such as tax relief for home-owners …show more content…
These cities are important centers which dominate the urban world and the global economy. They are significant because key personnel and activates are located within them and they not necessarily because of their economic status or population size. To show how important they are; ten of these cities host the headquarters of nearly half of the world’s largest 500 transnational manufacturing corporations. According to Clark (1996) these cities are the result of three reasons. The first one is the growth in the number and range of institutions of global capital. The second reason is the geographical concentration of capital. And the third reason is the extension of global reach via telecommunications and transport. Examples of global cities are London and Tokyo. Even though the UK has a relatively small manufacturing sector, London is considered a global city. This is because it is the prime center and supplier of financial services to global markets. It also has the second largest stock exchange in the whole world. But Tokyo’s global status is duo to it research led, government-protected microelectronics industry, its first-rate flexible production methods and the commercial center. The latter is built through the capital accumulated and exported to the rest of Asia and the …show more content…
The First notable way is how culture acts as branding for the city associating it with different goods or services. To give some Moroccan examples; Ouarzazate is famous for the film industry, Beni Mellal is known for olive oil The other big way cities use culture for economic purposes is through cultural industries. The latter, also known as creative industries, emerged, in the late 1990, as a strategy to encourage using culture to generate economic growth. The term ‘creative industries’ was first coined in the UK in 1997 by the Labor Government. It has quickly spread all over Europe, North America, and the rest of the world. The UK Government’s ‘Creative Industries Task Force’ defines it saying: the creative industries as those industries which have their origins in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property (Department of Culture, Media and Sport,
The title of the documentary is “Suburban America: Problems & Promises”. The intended audience for this documentary is individuals that do not know the history of how suburban areas came about, and how they have changed and grown dramatically over the years. It also explains the political impact that the growing suburban areas has on our government and how expanding these areas can change the outcome of an election. Suburban areas grew after the soldiers came home after WWII. Many suburban areas in the beginning were segregated.
The purpose of this documentary was to insight the public of why American suburban areas during the mid-1900s were populated and categorized the way they were. It showed how American History, Politics, War and Social Revolutionizing had a direct correlation between the urban planning of suburban areas. It helped explain the misconception between the stereotype about living in a suburban area. The director wants to teach the audience that there is more to just picking a district and suburbanizing it. There are hidden political and economic reasons behind every factor put into the building and colonizing of a suburban community.
The documentary explores the topics of political shifts within the suburbs, their political influence, their segregated history, their current landscape of diversity, transportation, affordable housing, planned growth, and how to better handle suburban issues. The main message the director wanted to convey to the audience is how American suburbia has its pros and cons, yet is a political force to be reckoned with, as well as a growing, positive place American citizens are eager to continue living in. The concept of urban sprawl has become a popular issue and concern for sustainability as well as politically, ethically, and socially. Concern over the issues urban sprawling creates has continued to grow.
The film presents a brief history of how suburbs came into existence, and it focuses on listing the challenges that the suburban communities faced many decades ago, as well as challenges that are present today. In addition, the film also shows some events that illustrate that despite some problems that the communities are facing, there are also hopes for positive outcomes. To demonstrate the complexities and the challenges that the suburban communities are facing, the author of the film utilized various locations around the country. The movie shows clips from multiple states that include Colorado, California, Virginia, Ohio, and Illinois. However, some of the main events in the film take place in the various towns of the New York state.
“The same endless vista of ugly and dirty little wooden buildings. Here and there would be a bridge crossing a filthy creek.” This was Upton Sinclair’s description of the city of Chicago in the early 20th century in his book The Jungle, and it was not flattering. The things that went on inside the city was even uglier, and it was done by one corporate, capitalism. Capitalism became a major problem in America as it bred horrible working and living conditions for the working class, and there was many reasons for why this happened (i.e. greed).
Despite this population exodus, Cleveland’s metropolitan population has remained stagnant over the past decade, and has actually increased since the 1950s (“Cleveland”). Therefore, as residents of Cleveland move to the suburbs, Cleveland faces an issue of suburban sprawl in the twenty-first century. This suburban sprawl has posed problems for Cleveland, as population decline within the city limits has diminished Cleveland’s economic status, causing drastic economic inequalities, such as differences in income and opportunity, between Cleveland and its surrounding suburbs. Since attracting more residents into Cleveland brings greater economic activity into the city, identifying the key factors that continue to fuel this substantial migration away from the city will help attract former residents back to Cleveland and reduce the city’s economic disparities. Although some may argue Cleveland has sufficiently invested in its community, I argue that Cleveland’s lack of investment into economic attractions and public resources, including housing, schools, and businesses, has caused suburban sprawl and population decline, as residents search for greater opportunities in the suburbs; this has driven stark economic inequalities
Gentrification is used by the government as a porssess which ensures that areas of social and economic underprivileged residents experience significant transformation through initiatives such as investments, developments and demographic change. These changes are notably beneficial for certain individuals compared to others, but specifically favourable towards the government and those of higher income families. Due to state-led gentrification these certain individuals of the area and the government receive benefits in several ways including an increase on the price of property and tax revenue, improved economic opportunities and overall neighbourhood improvements. Since the renewal to make these areas of low income residents more appealing to those of a higher income, property values and tax prices collected by the government have significantly increased. This is evidently seen through the rent and property increase within suburbs of Sydney where these economic pressures from the government have been put in placed due to the rise in affluent buyers in ceratin neighbourhoods.
The intent and effectiveness of any presidential administration’s policies are often highly scrutinized and disputed. President Ronald Reagan’s policies in regards to urban communities, and most specifically to the urban poor, are no exception to that rule. This paper analyzes both Reagan administrations’ (singular or plural? Is or one administration or 2?) urban policies and the consequences of those policies.
Inspired by european city rebuilding projects, American cities started clearing away older neighborhoods and creating grand avenues with impressive buildings. The only problem with the growing population was finding housing for the new residents. In Document 6 Nash explains how urban geography changed with emerging central businesses, few people living downtown, middle class residential areas stretched out beyond working class neighborhoods, and the growth of the suburbs which led to better transportation. Many of the rich lived in palatial mansions in the heart of the city while the moderately well to do took advantage of less expensive land on the outer edges of the city thus leading to what was known as the growth of the suburbs. However the poor could not afford housing in the city or in the suburbs and this led to the growth of tenement housing.
The development of the world’s largest airline terminal was an impeccable example. The Sheikh’s forceful strategies targeted at turning Dubai into a global business hub were almost yielding fruits by 1970s, as Dubai’s population has grown rapidly to make the city one of the most populous business hubs in the world. The city’s population grew rapidly from the 1960s to 1980s, thanks to Sheikh’s good economic development strategies that expanded the city. Applegate and Norris (2016) assert that by 2014 the city had over 2 million residents. A good population is favourable for the success of businesses, especially the type of businesses that depend on local customers.
The expansions of bedroom-communities also materialized to accommodate the large volume of new Americans that was being produced. After the World War II numerous individuals purchased land on the outskirts of urban-cities and use the advancement of technology to create inexpensive houses that was attractive to the baby-boomers. To further accommodate the audience the G.I. Bill of the returning soldiers & their families made housing in the suburbs even cheaper. In a way it was a win-win for man and country. It wasn’t all peaches & roses in the late 1950s for minorities.
A shock city is the urban place that represents a massive and rapid changes in social, economic, and cultural life (urbanization) due to many factors, including new models of transportation such as railroads, industrialization, and other factors. The first city that was considered the “shock city” was actually Manchester, England. It grew very quickly, and it was the world’s first industrialized city and the home of the cotton industry, cottonopolis - a metropolis centered on cotton trading. Same as Manchester, Chicago was also the “shock city” of North America because of its rapid growth. Both cities were industrial cities, Chicago rose from a struggling village sunk in the middle of a grassland creek to a metropolis city.
The term “Globalization” has been in existence for the past 50 years. It is one of the major causes of the increase in international trade. The Oxford Dictionary defined Globalization as “the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or operate on an international scale”. It is a phenomenon that has been in the front burner for several years. Certain individuals opine that it serves as an advantage for the developing countries to compete in the global market while others were of the opinion that it favors the developed countries by making them richer (Giddens, A. 1999).
The author has tried to prove these two arguments by taking the case study of Metro Manila where the government’s only focus is to drive the export-oriented economy and attract a large sum of investment. And, how this focus has led to the neglect of the urban poor and their poor living conditions in the city. AIM The main aim of this paper was to understand that whether the emergence of informal settlements in the city is due to the consequences of the globalisation or is it due to the conscious negligence of the government towards this section of the society in the race of becoming ‘global cities’. METHODOLOGY
The founding of WTO in 1995 increased the conflict between economic globalisation and the protection of social norms until now because of WTO aims at further trade liberalisations. While there is no universally agreed definition of globalization, economists typically use the term to refer to international integration in commodity, capital and labour markets. There are many impacts that existed after the introducing of WTO. Firstly, the globalisation has changed the way of economic nowadays.