This is part 1 of the lecture "An Urban Geography of Globalization". This was originally prepared for the free-choice (ellective) course "Globalization" of the department of Urbanism of the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), The Netherlands. In this part I introduce basic notions and ideas about globalization and how it might be affecting the structure of global cities.
1. AN URBAN
GEOGRAPHY OF
GLOBALISATION
UNDERSTANDING SPATIAL CHANGE IN THE
AGE OF HYPER-CONNECTIVITY
PART 1
Roberto Rocco
Chair Spatial Planning & Strategy !"#$%#&'&#((%()
Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) *!$+#$,)-
!"#$$%&'%()"%(*+)+,%
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 1
3. contents
PART 1
1.Introduction
2.Globalisation
3.Post-Fordism and increasing
urban complexity
PART 2
4.Case: Sao Paulo
5.Empirical research
6.Findings
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 3
4. PART 1:
What
globalisation and
why is it relevant
for planners?
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 4
5. We are 7 billion
people (2011)
Click here for the movie
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 5
6. So, the challenges are
slightly bigger (and
different)
Click here for an illustration of
challenges
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 6
7. A tale of global cities
For the first time in history, the majority of the
population lives in cities. Humanity is urban.
Urbanity is opportunity. The opportunity to be
connected to people, services, places and jobs.
Cities are changing fast, as they have always
done. In most places, cities are getting bigger,
while in other places they are actually getting
smaller: e.g. Detroit, New Orleans, cities in
Germany and Spain.
But here we are concerned with changes in
urban structures and infrastructures in a
special kind of city: the Global City.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 7
8. New questions are arising
How to accommodate new urban
dwellers, and provide housing, health,
education and jobs?
How to bridge the divide between the
urban rich and the urban poor?
How to keep our cities sustainable
and resilient to threats like climate
change?
How to keep cities vital and liveable?
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 8
9. The spatial make up of
global cities
The spatial make-up of global cities is also
changing. There are more and more
gleaming business centres, industries are
leaving, people are living increasingly far
from the centre, sometimes in horrible
conditions, other times in beautiful but
unsustainable never-ending suburbs.
People say it is “globalisation”. But what
does globalisation mean for the spatial
make-up of cities?
The cliché images are misleading...
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 9
25. Conceptualising
Globalisation
For Ulrich Beck (1997)
Globalisation occurs at four
main different levels:
technological
economical
cultural
ecological
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 25
26. Conceptualising
Globalisation
For SANTOS (1993)
One aspect of Globalisation is the
acceleration of the all spheres of
life, including:
rapid development of information
communicational technologies (ICT)
the decentralisation of production
and managerial processes
the expansion of trade flows,
financial flows and Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI)
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 26
29. We find it useful to
explore the subject
dispassionately, however
critically.
We also need to find out
what ‘globalisation’ means
for the management of
cities.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 29
30. Is it new?
Trade routes in the 16th century
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 30
33. Other Globalizations:
illegal immigration
People smuggling: 145 million people per
year are illegally smuggled from poor or
conflict countries into rich nations
Source: SF Chronicle 7 jan 2001
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 33
34. Other Globalizations:
conflict
Source: Small arms survey, GIIS, IISS
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 34
35. Other Globalizations:
Fear
“From Australia to Zimbabwe, using new laws and old-fashioned brute
force, governments are sacrificing human rights on the altar of antiterrorism”
Source: Amnesty International 2004
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 35
36. Other Globalisations:
Disease
Source: World Health Organisation 2003
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 36
38. Globalization and irrational forms of
societal developments might and do
coexist
Source: www.cartoonwork.com. Copyright: Carol Simpson
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 38
39. Global awareness:
The ‘Second’ Modernity
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 39
40. The underlying assumption
The shift towards a knowledge-
based economy and the emphasis
on the production trade and
diffusion of knowledge is
triggering spatial transformation
in cities under globalisation.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 40
41. What is he talking about?
Spatial urban structure refers to:
•How functions are located and
distributed over the urban territory
•How these functions are articulated/
integrated by real networks
•How are real networks changing and
expanding (the city-region as a
relevant unit of analysis)
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 41
42. And why is that important?
Life is embedded in space.
Everything we do, we do
‘somewhere’, using places and
services that articulated by links
and infrastructures.
Let’s have a look in the following
model:
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 42
55. Extension of networks
The extension of Arthur Andersen consulting around the world. The firm
collapsed in 2002, accused of fraud.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 55
56. The number of multinational corporations along time. Source: GABEL, M. Bruner, H.
2004, Global Inc. An Atlas of the Multinational Corporation, new york: Global inc.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 56
65. Global Inc.
An Atlas of the Multinational Corporation
MEDARD GABEL AND HENRY BRUNER
The future looks more like this
Visualizing Friendships
by Paul Butler on Tuesday, 14 December 2010 at 02:16
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 65
67. A set of reasons
Revolution in Information and
Telecommunications Technologies
Advances in Transportation Technologies
New management of production (Toyotism
substitutes Fordism)
Dispersal of production (industry to
developing countries/ knowledge
production in developed countries)
Emergence of a Knowledge-based
Economy
Liberalisation of the Economy
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 67
68. The transition from Fordism to Post-
Fordism and the rise of the Knowledge
Economy
In Post-Fordism, companies went from mass
production to flexible production, adapted to a
changing and segmented demand
X
This amplified various processes and triggered
the dispersal of production and concentration
of command activities in certain NODES of
Command (Global Cities)
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 68
70. Globalizing Cities and
NODES of command
The dispersal of production and finance has resulted in extended
networks, composed by both old and new articulation NODES OF
COMMAND.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 70
71. FDI as % of total GDP
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 71
72. Globally integrated
organization of economic
activity
For Sassen
(1991):
“The geography and
the composition of
the global economy
changed so as to
produce a complex
duality: a spatially
dispersed, yet
globally
integrated
organization of
Location of ADK Akatsu Advertising
economic (Japan) branches
activity” (p.3)
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 72
74. Expanded central control
and management
Territorial dispersal of current
economic activity creates a need for
expanded central control and management
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 74
75. Strategic role of global
cities
For Sassen (1991), major cities have acquired a
strategic role in the last decades as centres of
command of the organisation of world economy.
Taylor, P.J. Firms and their Global Service Networks in S Sassen (ed) (2002)
Global Networks, Linked Cities New York, London: Routledge, 93-115.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 75
76. Cities as key locations for
Advanced Producer Services
This new role is
largely based on
some cities being
key locations for
finance and for
specialised service
firms, which have
replaced
manufacturing as
the leading
economic sector of
the an increasingly
integrated world
economy.
GaWC Research Bulletin 23, 2001
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 76
77. The architecture of the
Global City Network
Tokyo
London
NY
Source: Globalization and World Cities Study Group and
Network, Loughborough, UK
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 77
78. But…
Discussing ‘global cities’ as
loci of command seems to be
insufficient from the point
of view of territorial
management and planning.
The necessary geographical
and spatial components are
missing.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 78
79. But…
These spatial components are
essential to understand the real
implications of an emerging
knowledge economy for the spatial
organisation of cities and regions.
The intrinsic networked character of
command activities and their role as
producers,users and sellers of
knowledge seem to require a better
understanding of how they are
organised in the territory.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 79
81. Urban structures in the
age of hyperconnectivity
The sophistication, expansion and
generalization of technical networks
in the last decades are crucial
elements for the appearance of new
urban structures and new societal
practices.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 81
83. USEFUL LINKS
United Nations Human Settlements Programme
www.unhabitat.org/
Learn more about the United Nations' efforts to improve living conditions—both urban and rural—for the world's people.
World Urbanisation Prospects: The 2001 Revision, Data Tables
and Highlights
www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wup2001/wup2001dh.pdf
Read the UN's most recent report on the history and future of urbanisation worldwide. If you live in a very large metropolitan
area, you may find projections for its future population—through 2015—in table A.12.
Prague Institute for Global Urban Development
www.pragueinstitute.org/
This non-profit organization works to improve urban environments around the world.
The Urban Institute
www.urban.org
The Urban Institute's wide-ranging experts—including economists, policy analysts, population specialists, and urban planners—
examine urban conditions around the globe and advise policy makers on ways to improve quality of life in cities.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 83
84. General references on
urbanisation today
Caldeira, Teresa P. R., 2000, City of Walls: Crime, Segregation, and
Citizenship in São Paulo. University of California Press.
Evans, Peter, ed. 2002. Livable Cities? Urban Struggles for Livelihood
and Sustainability. University of California Press.
Hall, Peter, and Ulrich Pfeiffer, 2000. Urban Future 21: A Global Agenda
for Twenty-First Century Cities. E and FN Spon.
Hardroy, Jorge E., Diana Mitlin, and David Satterthwaite, 2001.
Environmental Problems in an Urbanizing World. Earthscan Publications.
United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) 2001. Cities in a
Globalizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements 2001. Earthscan
Publications.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 84
85. references on globalisation
and cities
AMEN, M. M., ARCHER, K. & BOSMAN, M. M. 2006. Relocating global cities: from the center to the margins, Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield.
BECK, U. 2000. What is Globalization?, Cambridge, Polity Press.
BIG PICTURE CONSULTING 2004. Small World Consulting, Philadelphia, USA. http://www.bigpicturesmallworld.com/Global%20Inc%202/pgs/
fndts/fdi.html/ GMT 28 October 2004.
DEÁK, C. 2001. Sao Paulo City Profile. In: CARMONA, M. & BURGESS, R. (eds.) Strategic Planning & Urban Projects: Responses to globalisation
from 15 cities Delft: DUP.
FRIEDMAN, J. 2005. Globalization and the emerging culture of planning. Progress in Planning, 64, 183-234.
GABEL, M. & BRUNER, H. 2003. Global Inc.: An Atlas of the Multinational Corporation, New York, The New Press.
MARCUSE, P. & VAN KEMPEN, R. 2000. Globalizing Cities: a New Spatial Order?, Oxford, Blackwell.
MCCANN, E. J. 2004. Urban Political Economy Beyond the 'Global City'. Urban Studies, 41, 2315-2333.
PAIN, K. 2010. Spatial Transformations of Cities: Global City-Region? Mega-City Region? [Online]. Loughborough: GaWC. Available: http://
www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb353.html [Accessed 29 March 2011].
ROCCO, R. 2008. An Urban Geography of Globalisation: New Urban Structures in the Age of Hyper-connectivity, Delft, IFoU.
SASSEN, S. 2002. Locating Cities on Global Circuits. Environment & Urbanization, 14, 13-30.
SCHIFFER, S. T. R. Year. São Paulo: the challenge of Globalisation in an exclusionary urban structure., 1997 Stanford. UNU/IAS.
SEGBERS, K. 2007. Global Politics and the Making of Global City Regions. In: SEGBERS, K. (ed.) The Making of Global City Regions:
Johannesburg, Mumbai/Bombay, São Paulo, and Shanghai. Baltimore: JHU Press.
SOKOL, M., VAN EGERAAT, C. & WILLIAMS, B. 2008. Revisiting the 'informational city': Space of flows, polycentricity and the geography of
knowledge-intensive business services in the emerging global city-region of Dublin. Regional Studies, 42, 1133-1146.
TAYLOR, P. J. 2004. World City Network: a Global Urban Analysis, London, Routledge.
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 85
86. Thanks for listening
Any questions?
r.c.rocco@tudelft.nl
Roberto Rocco
Chair of Urban Planning and Strategy, Department of Urbanism
Delft University of Technology TU Delft
April 2011
Wednesday, 27April, 2011 86