Geography - Cities, sustainability, globalisation and risk

Question 1

What is the contemporary urban world?

Answer 1

Urban world is a heterogeneous place, with intra and inter-regional differences

China is hugely significant – 682 million of the world’s urban population are there.

UN projects that China and India will account for about 1/3 of the coming increase in the urban population

Question 2

What are some facts about population regarding the contemporary urban world?

Answer 2

Most of the world’s urban population live in small to medium sized cities

Much of the world’s population live in cities with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants

Points of linkage between town and country but integrated into national and global systems

Question 3

What are mega cities?

Answer 3

These are cities with populations of over 10 million.

UN found that today Asia has 13 megacities, Latin America has four, and Africa, Europe and Northern America have two each.

Question 4

What is urban growth and urbanisation?

Answer 4

Urban growth=absolute increase in size of urban population

Urbanisation= the relative shift in population distribution from rural areas into town and cities

Urban growth and urbanisation are relatively recent….

Question 5

What is the interdependency theory of global urban development?

Answer 5

Urbanisation in core and periphery are inter-related

Global urban development is a consequence of 2 linked processes:
changes in wealth accumulation
the evolution of a world system of nations

Question 6

What are the four changes in wealth accumulation?

Answer 6

Mercantilism

Industrial capitalism (colonialism/imperialism)

Monopoly capitalism (state imperialism)

Transnational corporate capitalism (corporate imperialism)

Question 7

What is Mercantilism?

Answer 7

1500-1780

Main sources of wealth were trade in commodities

Urban development focused on European ports, like Venice, Genoa, Amsterdam

Urban development very limited

Role of periphery was supply of agricultural goods and raw materials

Settlement patterns focused on coasts

Question 8

What is Industrial Capitalism?

Answer 8

1780-1880

Britain at forefront of industrial revolution

Growth of cities like London, Manchester, Glasgow and Dundee

Question 9

What is Monopoly Capitalism?

Answer 9

1880-1950

Focus is North west Europe, North America and coasts of empires

Dominant cities are London and New York

Question 10

What is Corporate Capitalism?

Answer 10

1950 onwards

Rise of the transnational corporation

Investment by global capitalists in selected cities

Displacement of rural populations

Question 11

State contrasting views of geographers on the links between globalisation and the city… pessimism versus optimism.

Answer 11

David Harvey: globalisation has led to a reactionary, place-based politics

Doreen Massey: globalization has lead to a progressive local politics of place

Question 12

What is a “pessimistic” reading of globalisation for cities? (Part 1)

Answer 12

Changes in mobility of production mean cities are under threat from the restructuring of economic relations at a global level.

Urban infrastructure is a form of fixed capital which exists in tension with other forms of mobile capital.

Mobility leads to place investment and disinvestment.

Old places have to be devalued, destroyed and redeveloped, new places are created: the cathedral city becomes a heritage centre, the mining community become a ghost town, the old industrial centre is deindustrialised

Question 13

What is a “pessimistic” reading of globalisation for cities? (Part 2)

Answer 13

Globalization is seen as something anxiety provoking for those who seek to invest in the fixities of a place based existence.

Harvey’ s view is that the city can be something reactionary, exclusive.

The city is an immobile connection between a group of people and a site

The city is implicated in debates about us (people who belong in a place) and them (people who do not).

Question 14

What is a consequence of globalisation for cities?

Answer 14

City competition at global level.

Question 15

What is an optimistic reading for globalisation for cities?

Answer 15

Massey develops a progressive global sense of place

Globalised cities are about combining objects, things, thoughts in new kinds of ways….

The walk down her main shopping street in North London is a celebration of diversity and hybridity

This does not mean a complete acceptance of globalisation, but a total rejection would be just as uncritical

Question 16

What strategies should cities pursue in an era of globalisation?

Answer 16

Locational strategies: economic growth model focused on the costs of land, labour and capital (inspired by Peterson’s (1981) City Limits thesis)

World class community orientations: gaining a niche in the global economy…

Entrepreneurial mercantilism: ‘to grow what we have, to expand what we have’

Asset-based human capital strategies: local job creation, education and training

Sustainable development: recycling, pollution reduction, growth management, community health

Or different strategies altogether?

Question 17

What is the new global economic order?

Answer 17

Key changes in manufacturing: shift from core to periphery

A new international division of labour

But requires a new pattern of international finance: the global financial system

Still transnational corporate capitalism, or something beyond that?

Question 18

What are socio-economic consequences of global urban development?

Answer 18

Where does responsibility for dealing with problems lie: with developing or developed world?

Urbanisation leads to development of an informal sector (generally illegal, but separate from the criminal economy). 1/3 to 1/2 of output

Urbanisation leads to ‘shanty towns’

Issues re service provision

Health issues in urban development (and in comparison to more rural areas)

Environment and health

Question 19

What is global finance characterised by?

Answer 19

Foreign direct investment: US$1.3 trillion in 2000 cf. US$94 billion in 1982

Institutional infrastructure: e.g. IMF, World Bank

This move both gives rise to – and is enabled by – internationalisation of production

Things will have changed a lot with the recent financial crisis (and may change further)

However, still a functioning global financial system that plays a role in many cities

Question 20

What are the three E’s?

Answer 20

Environment
Equity
Economy

Question 21

What is Environment?

Answer 21

Environment: what are the environmental consequences, good and bad, of redevelopment?

Question 22

What is Equity?

Answer 22

Equity: how far does redevelopment contribute to a more equitable society by reducing socio-economic inequalities?

Question 23

What is economy?

Answer 23

Economy: how does redevelopment allow economic growth in ways which minimize risks to the environment?

Question 24

According to Haughton and Hunter 2003, what are the ecological principles?

Answer 24

Prevention is better than cure
Nothing stands alone
Minimize waste
Maximize the use of renewable and recyclable materials

Question 25

What are the ecological principles?

Answer 25

Maintain and enhance requisite variety
Identify and respect local, regional and global environmental tolerances
Enhance environmental understanding through research

Question 26

What are the social and economic principles?

Answer 26

Use of appropriate technology, materials and design

Create new indicators of economic and environmental wealth

Create new indicators of economic and environmental productivity

Establish acceptable minimum standards through regulatory control

Continue action to internalise environmental costs into the market

Ensure social acceptability of environmental policies

Widespread public participation

Question 27

What are management principles?

Answer 27

Subsidiarity

Flexibility in devising and implementing environmental policy regimes

Long term strategies are necessary for environmental management

Improved coordination across environment-related policies

Non-discrimination and equal right of hearing

Need for better availability and understanding of environmental information

Question 28

What are plans for sustainability in European cities?

Answer 28

Green urbanism: compact and ecological urban form

Sustainable mobility

Building pedestrian cities

Greening the urban environment

Renewable energy and closed-loop cities

Question 29

What city can be used as an example for planning for sustainability in America?

Answer 29

Seattle

Question 30

How does the sustainable indicators project used in Seattle help environment & population and resources?

Answer 30

Environment:
biodiversity, air quality, soil erosion, and open space

Population and resources:
solid waste produced; vehicle mile travelled, residential water consumption, renewable energy use

Question 31

How does the sustainable indicators project used in Seattle help economy & youth and education?

Answer 31

Economy (housing affordability, real unemployment, health care expenditure, distribution of personal income, percentage of children living in poverty)

Youth and education (adult literacy, juvenile crime rate, ethnic diversity of teaches, volunteer involvement in schools)

Question 32

How does the sustainable indicators project used in Seattle help health and community?

Answer 32

Health and community (low birth weights asthma hospitalization, gardening activity, voter participation, neighbourliness, perceived quality of life).

Question 33

Is sustainable urban development an oxymoron?

Answer 33

The Sears Tower in Chicago uses more energy in 24 hrs than an average American city of 150K or an Indian City of more than 1 million people

Question 34

Why does Sears (Willis) Tower use more energy in 24 hrs than an average American city of 150K?

Answer 34

Tallest building in world (until 1998)
Still tallest in US

Skyscrapers consume a lot of electricity because water has to be pumped to the highest occupied floors

Reliance on mechanical (forced) ventilation.

Use of elevators instead of stairs

Natural lighting can not be used in ‘interior’ rooms such as elevators, bathrooms and stairwells.

Taipei 101 said to be world’s ‘greenest’ skyscraper

Question 35

What is ecological footprint analysis?

Answer 35

Ecological footprint analysis is an accounting tool that enables us to estimate resource consumption and waste

Provides measure of human demand on earth’s ecosystems

A tool to ask (among other things):
how much does study population depend on resources from elsewhere
how much does it depend on waste assimilation capacity of global commons?
Will nature’s productivity be able to satisfy material expectations of growing human population?

Question 36

What is Biosphere II?

Answer 36

In 1989, 1.27 hectare structure in Arizona, USA,

‘closed system’ but energetically open:

all components needed to maintain life sealed within the structure: animals and photosynthetic plants

the wastes of one organism were the nutrients of other organisms, in an unending cycle of matter

Individuals in the Biosphere 2 experiment had to survive on an ecological footprint of 0.16 hectares each, on what was essentially a pre-industrial lifestyle.

Cost of self-sustaining closed system exceeded US$200 million.

Question 37

What is the downside to ecological footprint analysis?

Answer 37

The average ‘earthshare’ is 1.92ha (the amount of land required to support a person on this planet within the total amount of productive land)

If everyone in the world lived like the population in Scottish cities, we would need 2-4 additional earth’s to support global demand

Think critically about quantification and calculation
What is included and excluded? And how might this be different?

Can everything relevant here be quantified?
Political implications and use of this approach (both positive and negative)

Can it be equitable for some to have access to more or less than an equal ‘share’?

Question 38

What is Ecological modernization and the city?

Answer 38

By introducing ecological criteria into production and consumption processes it will be possible to reduce resource consumption and pollution to sustainable levels

The market economy is often viewed as the most efficient and flexible way of achieving the objective of sustainability

Emphasises (as Mol and Sonnenfeld argue):
Science and technology
Market’s increasing importance
Transformations in nation-state
Changes in social movements
Changes in discourse and ideology

Question 39

What is Ecological modernization and the city? (2)

Answer 39

The market economy retains a key role
The enabling role of the state providing a regulatory framework for environmental protection
Emphasis on other stakeholders

Question 40

What are criticisms for Ecological modernization and the city?

Answer 40

It is a Northern approach to the problem

The approach is restricted and narrow

The approach is optimistic

It assumes a consensual approach

It is largely devoid of a social dimension

Assumes the market and the state are in a compatible relationship

Question 41

What is the radical perspective?

Answer 41

A radical perspective would argue that the market has failed and that economic growth is a cause of environmental degradation and social inequality

Radicals would emphasise that capitalist relations have created the inequalities which are part of the problem

Question 42

What are radical perspectives?

Answer 42

Beck (1995) Risk Society: ‘we are confronted by the challenges of the self-created possibility … of the self-destruction of all life on earth’

Harvey (1996) ‘The environment of justice’: ‘Changing patterns of urban organization…. produce multiple displacements of environmental issues to different scales’

Question 43

What did Harvey emphasise about the radical perspective?

Answer 43

Social relations as an explanation for environmental change;

Social justice as a way to achieve environmental justice within cities

Must embrace the idea of a welfare state (state-society relations) rather than just an enabling state (state-economy relations)

Question 44

what is The work of David Harvey:

‘The environment of justice’?

Answer 44

The challenge for environmental movements is not just to confront the problem of environmental degradation but to transform the processes that gave rise to the problem in the first place

i.e. tackle the problem of unrelenting capital accumulation and the asymmetries of power and money and look at alternative modes of production, consumption and distribution (in Merrifield and Swyngedouw (1996) The Urbanization of Injustice)