Urban Places

Question 1

World Cities

Answer 1

• A large city that has outstripped its national urban network and become part of an international global system. World cities are considered the control and command centres in the borderless domain of the new global economy.
• Mainly in developed countries
• Due to the influence of agricultural, industrial and technological revolutions, the global and national significance of world cities has grown, making them powerful centres of economic and cultural authority.

Question 2

Urbanisation

Answer 2

an increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas compared to rural area.

Question 3

The emergence of world cities

Answer 3

• The emergence of world cities is the product of the globalization of economic activity. Since the 1960s, the globalization process have been driven by:
o Technological developments in transport and communication
o The emergence of new, information-based forms of economic activity (the ‘new economy’)
o The emergence of TNCs as key players in the global economy

• World cities are connected for integrated systems of communication, finance and transport, linking regional, national and international economies into the global economy.

Question 4

Global Hierarchy

Answer 4

• A hierarchy of world cities based on its spatial articulation, the space over which a city has a clear and distinct influence.
• Often based on a city’s financial power and to an extent, cultural influence.

New York, Tokyo, London
LA, Paris, Beijing
Sydney, Hong Kong, Seattle

Question 5

The Role of World Cities

Answer 5

• World cities play a major role in the international economy both as powerful centres of economic and cultural authority.
• They have become the command points for the interconnections that keep the contemporary world economy, and social and political system going.
• Integral in the globalization process, this is reflected in their characteristics and functions.

Question 6

Economic authority

Answer 6

• The economic authority of world cities refers to how they influence many aspects of the global economy from flow of money, business decisions, and setting market trends.

• World cities act as the headquarters for many TNCs and large national corporations
o They are the HQs for many TNCs and large national corporations.
o Also the HQs for most of the IGOs that play a major role in the global economy
• World cities act as financial centres
o All of the major stock exchanges and future exchanges are located in world cities (e.g. New York stock exchange)
• World cities are key locations for specialised service firms
o Provide a place in which key people can gather information and develop networks of contracts.
• World cities are markets for a vast range of goods and services
o Areas of massive accumulations of wealth and high incomes (e.g. Fifth Avenue – NY, Champs de Elysee – Paris)

Question 7

Cultural Authority

Answer 7

The cultural authority of world cities provides key locations for social infrastructure and networks, cultural activities and entertainment facilities.

• The built environment of world cities have a social infrastructure that facilitate contact between people
• World cities are centres for a range of prestigious cultural facilities and entertainment

• World cities provide the opportunity for a distinctive cultural lifestyle
o World cities showcase both sides of the financial spectrum, with both high and low income earners living in world cities.

Question 8

The operation of global networks

Answer 8

• A range of transport networks and services connects world cities to each other. They are also connected to other major cities and a variety of urban and rural centres at a variety of levels.
• These linkages are facilitated by air transport; telecommunication circuits and non-voice transfer systems. They are also linked by other transport systems including shipping lanes, road and rail networks.

Question 9

(Operation) Global airline network

Answer 9

• In the global economy, the movement and interaction of people and information has become as important as the movement of goods. Most global cities are linked by direct flights where distance makes this possible.

o Air transport is the preferred mode of travel for transnational and other business and government personnel, as well as tourists, migrants and high-value, low-bulk goods
o Airline links are an important part of a city’s visible claim to world city status

Question 10

(Operation) Telecommunication networks

Answer 10

• Revolutionized by satellites
• By the end of the century, there were more than 200 functioning satellites in orbit, each one capable of carrying tens of thousands of telephone calls and several TV signals at once. There were also new low-orbit satellites, making possible a comprehensive global satellite-telephone network.
• The global telephone network is dominated by the dominant world cities, but not to the same extent as airline networks.

Question 11

(Operation) Non-voice transfer systems

Answer 11

• Traditional postal services, which still carry vast amounts of information between world cities
• Electronic mail or email, which is now more important between world cities than traditional mail
• The internet

Question 12

The relationships of dominance and dependence between world cities

Answer 12

• The relationship of dominance and dependence could be said to belong to the interaction between world cities and the other urban centres in proximity to them
• World cities, whether they are characterized as dominant, major or secondary, are sites of world accumulation.

Question 13

(Dom/Depend) Dominance

Answer 13

world cities have control over urban places, cultural and economic authority

Question 14

(Dom/Depend) Dependence

Answer 14

reliance on more powerful centres. Lower place in global hierarchy means an increase in dependence. TNC/NGO decisions impact dependent cities.

Question 15

(Dom/Depend) Central Place Theory

Answer 15

• Small central places offer a limited range of goods and services to a small surrounding population
• Large central places offer a large range of goods and services to a small surrounding population -> larger places have a greater spatial articulation -> greater economic dominance

Question 16

(Dom/Depend) World System Theory

Answer 16

• Dominance and dependence of world cities driven by globalization
• The dominant world cities exploit the dependent world cities of their secondary sector resources such as labour.
• Utilises the world city network

Question 17

The changing role of regional centres

Answer 17

• The growth and development of world cities -> impact on urban morphology of rural and urban places
• Regional centres take up the functions of small towns -> decreased control of rural settings
• Regional centres now resemble metropolitan centres but are less complex in function.
• Regional centres are becoming infrastructure heavy through hospitals and bank buildings.
• The hinterland (surrounding small towns) is becoming increasing dependent on evolving regional centres.

Question 18

The demise of the small country town

Answer 18

• Decrease in the function of small towns and the increasing in the function of regional centres has resulted in the demise of the small country town due to a lack of function.
• Recent developments in transport and communications have made it more difficult for small towns with limited functions and small populations to survive.
• The declining returns from agricultural production have reduced the incomes of rural households relative to those in booming large cities.

Question 19

Mega cities

Answer 19

• A very large urban agglomeration of more than 10 million people.
• Most mega cities are apart of the developing world, an area of rapid population growth in places where developing is still occurring.
• In 2001, there were twenty-eight mega cities, with twenty-one of them located in developing countries.
The development of mega cities has produced many positive results, such as a dynamic business and cultural life, and a greater variety of choice in employment and leisure activities. There are also negative results, including severe traffic problems as well as increased stress on city dwellers, infrastructure and utilities.

Question 20

The nature, character and spatial distribution of mega cities in the developing world

Answer 20

• Some of the main characteristics of mega cities in the developing world include:
o The maintenance of old colonial buildings and infrastructure
o Major cities of manufacturing
o Overurbanisation
o Large informal economies
• Could be national and global centres, however they lack the economic and cultural authority of world cities
• Overurbanised (lack of services) and over-ruralised (lack of sustenance)
• Mega cities are home to formal and informal manufacturing, and are often labour intensive as opposed to capital intensive (world cities).
• World cities victims of the ‘new economy’
• NGO and UN dependent
• Due to overurbanisation, people that live in mega cities often live in slum areas
• Some of the larger mega cities include Mexico City (Mexico), Dhakar (Bangladesh) and Mumbai (India)
• A concern about the economic efficiency of mega cities in the developing world is that sheer size could result in diseconomies of scale, when a city or organisation becomes so large that it no longer works efficiently
• Governments in mega cities have recognised the need to adopt spatial strategies that will allow mega cities to adapt to their growing size and functions.
o Mega cities such as Jakarta and Cairo have attempted to evolve a poliocentric structure with the growth of sub-centres
o Seoul has developed new towns, industrial estates and green belts with some success

Question 21

The challenges of living in mega cities (5)

Answer 21

HOUSING, TRAFFIC INFRASTRUCTURE, WATER AND SANITATION, POLLUTION, EMPLOYMENT

Question 22

(Mega Challenges) Housing

Answer 22

• Self help projects aimed at providing people with water, drainage and electricity in their homes in slum areas
• The most recent government effort of the 1990s is the slum upgrade program, which aims to grant slum dwellers tenure right to the land they’re living on. It also provides loans to slum households to enable them to make permanent improvements on their dwellings.

Question 23

(Mega Challenges) Traffic Infrastructure

Answer 23

• Most commuters use public transport in mega cities. However the public transport infrastructure is nothing comparable to that of developed cities.
• Traffic problems include the congestion of roads, inadequate rail systems and very slow travel times
• In Shanghai, there was a massive increase in the amount of motor vehicles. From 1983 to 2001, the number increased from 8000 to 68,000, further contributing to worsening traffic congestion.

Question 24

(Mega Challenges) Water and sanitation

Answer 24

• Many mega cities have very few dwelling with inside running water – Jakarta has < 10%, Cairo has 40%, Rio de Janeiro has 55%
• Sewerage facilities are often ancient and inadequate in mega cities in developing countries
• Very little of the sewage in mega cities is treated and is often left to flow into local waterways.
• There are also issues with solid waste disposal. The proportion of the population whose solid waste is collected ranges from 25% in Jakarta to 80% in Mexico City.
• Mega cities often find it beyond their available resources to collect and treat solid and liquid waste.
• Only 20% of Mumbai’s population has a continuous water supply, and 60% receive eight hours or less continuous supply.

Question 25

(Mega Challenges) Pollution

Answer 25

• Atmospheric pollution that has resulted from the unregulated consumption of coal and petroleum in industry and transport.
• Photochemical smog is a major problem in many of the mega cities, particularly those with long periods of still air (Delhi, Mexico City).
• Air pollution is commonly associated with health problems. It also affects visibility, slows traffic and further contributes to worsening pollution.
• In Mexico City, 3.5 million motor vehicles and 30,000 emit more than 5.5 million tonnes of pollution into the atmosphere each year.

Question 26

(Mega Challenges) Employment

Answer 26

• One of the most difficult challenges facing mega cities is to provide sufficient employment.
• The labour markets in mega cities of the developing world are incapable of absorbing or providing employment for the huge population of job seekers. The ILO estimates that between 20-25% of urban adults in mega cities are without work.
• Many urban poor are forced to create their own employment with the informal sector
• The UN predicts that every third person will live in a slum within 50 years

Question 27

responses to these challenges (5)

Answer 27

o Self-help projects – local inhabitants help themselves to overcome the challenges
o Community self-government – associates with communities managing their own interests
o NGO cooperation – pursues matters of interest by lobbying governments or through direct action
o Urban protest – a public display of their disapproval of the challenges they face
o The operation of informal economies – assist in the overall maintenance of mega cities

Question 28

(Responses) housing

Answer 28

• Self help projects aimed at providing people with water, drainage and electricity in their homes in slum areas
• The most recent government effort of the 1990s is the slum upgrade program, which aims to grant slum dwellers tenure right to the land they’re living on. It also provides loans to slum households to enable them to make permanent improvements on their dwellings.

Question 29

(Responses) traffic infrastructure

Answer 29

• The Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) is the first and longest sea link bridge in India. It acts as an alternative route between central Mumbai to the western suburbs in an attempt to reduce traffic on existing roads.
• In Cairo, an underground railway system has been developed. This system is part of a plan to reduce above ground traffic by up to 75%.

Question 30

(Responses) water and sanitation

Answer 30

• The Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) was established for the slums in Karachi in 1980 in an effort to improve water and sanitation in the area. Through the project, over 72,000 of Orangi’s 95,000 houses have been connected to covered sewers.
• Government responses in Delhi to water and sanitation issues include:
o Hopes for more water from the Ganges through new storages
o Proposals for local water harvesting schemes by storing excess monsoon rains in the Delhi area as groundwater basins.

Question 31

(Responses) pollution

Answer 31

• The BWSL also work to decrease carbon monoxide, nitrogen and oxide levels along existing roads.
• Most of Brazil now uses petrol with up to 85% ethanol. This is much cleaner petrol where the ethanol is derived from sugar cane and soybeans. It has the benefits of cheaper fuel, less impact on the environment and also ensures the local farmers are earning substantial revenues.

Question 32

(Responses) employment

Answer 32

• The response of mega cities to deal with the challenges of unemployment and underemployment have included allowing more TNCs in the city/country in order to provide more jobs for the local people.
• China and India are now enjoying a massive influx of foreign direct investment, resulting in huge job and income growth for these countries. This is a rapid transition from the traditional ‘old economy’ to increase of manufacturing and services.

Question 33

Sydney

Answer 33

• Sydney is developing as a world city because of the following factors:
o Low operating costs
o Government policies that have been favourable to businesses and TNCs
o Air connections
o Sydney’s culture of place
Highly skilled and educated workforce

Question 34

(Sydney) Social structure and spatial patterns of advantage and disadvantage, wealth and poverty, ethnicity

Answer 34

• The areas with the highest % of high-income households were around the waterways of Sydney, a large part of the northern suburbs and areas of the Georges River and Port Hacking
• There is a strong relationship between the income and the wealth of the individual. Most of the better quality homes in Sydney are in high-income areas.
• The areas of low-income households in the 1996 census were widely dispersed through the GSMR, but with major concentrations in the inner city, west and southwest. There were also isolated pockets of poverty on the northern side of the harbour.
• The main reasons for the spatial pattern of high and low income areas in the GSMR are suburbanisation, urban decay and urban renewal

Question 35

(Sydney) Patterns of ethnicity

Answer 35

• Australia has pursued an active migration program over the last 50yrs since post WW2. The main reasons for migration were the higher standards of living in Australia, the problems arising from WW2 and widespread poverty in rural Southern Europe.
• A very large proportion of migrants who enter Australian settle in Sydney. Sydney has taken 43% of migrants who entered Australian between 1996-2001. The long period of migration has strongly affected Sydney.
o Over a third of Sydney’s population was born overseas
o 6% of Sydney’s population speak a language other than English at home
• The spatial clustering of migrants offers a number of advantages, including:
o The immediate opportunity of sheltering with family and friends
o Security and support
o A common language and customs
o Assistance in finding employment

Question 36

(Sydney) Patterns of educational attainment

Answer 36

• The people with university qualifications are strongly concentrated on the north side of the harbour. This is because these are the more attractive high-income suburbs, and most of Sydney’s universities are within reasonable travelling distances of these suburbs.

Question 37

(Sydney) Changing economic character, nature and location of residential land, commercial and industrial development

Answer 37

• During the 1980s, there were many developments that encouraged the development of a global economy, including:
o Major advances in transport
o The development of advanced information technology
o The deregulation of financial systems
o The greater encouragement of international trade

Question 38

(Sydney) Sydney’s changing economic character

Answer 38

• 17% of employed people in Sydney work in finance and business services; this is comparable with London and New York

Question 39

(Sydney) Commercial development

Answer 39

• Sydney’s role as a world city has had a number of effects on the nature and location of commercial development. The three broad effects are:
o The location of regional headquarters
o The location of advanced producer services
o The location of financial services
• There has been a suburbanisation of many commercial activities. These commercial centres include places like North Sydney and Parramatta. There has also been the widespread suburbanisation of shopping, which cater for a suburban population who drive cars and do not heavily rely on commercial transport.
• These developments have resulted in a CBD that is more related to:
o Global and national business
o Tourism
o High-quality shopping

Question 40

(Sydney) Industrial development

Answer 40

• In the post WW2 period, Sydney grew rapidly as an industrial city, protected by high tariffs. Since then, the types and patterns of industry have changed.
o Australia’s manufacturing has been exposed to greater global competition
o The success of producer and financial services has made it difficult for manufacturing to compete for labour and land
o Increase share of import/export activities in transport, storage and wholesaling the closing and relocating of manufacturing from traditional areas.
o The demand for better housing has put greater pressure on traditional manufacturing activities in competing for land, with gentrification changing many old buildings.
• As a result of this, industries have developed a far more complex location. Industrial parks in places like Blacktown point to a suburbanisation of industry
• The high-tech industry is also suburbanized. Known as the “Global Arc”, the main high tech location is in the areas from North Ryde through to North Sydney, home to over 500 high-tech companies.

Question 41

(Sydney) Nature and location of residential land

Answer 41

•	The nature and location of residential land in Sydney has been affected by:
o	The Physical geography of the GSMR
o	Suburbanisation
o	Urban decay, renewal and consolidation
o	Exurbanisation

Question 42

(Sydney) Sydney’s Culture of Place

Answer 42

• Expressed in terms of architecture, street life, heritage, and biophysical environment and lifestyle environment.
• Sydney is distinctive through its collection of many smaller unique environments.
• Sydney’s CBD and Inner Metropolitan Sydney are the areas that best reflect our culture of place.
• Generally, Sydney is defined by our climate, beaches, the harbour, the culture, high rates of suburbanisation and sprawl and tourist friendly landscapes

Question 43

(Sydney) Architecture

Answer 43

• The two best known buildings are the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge

Question 44

(Sydney) Streetscape

Answer 44

• Sydney grew from a small cove settlement with narrow streets into the world city it is today

Question 45

(Sydney) Noise, colour, street life and vitality

Answer 45

• The CBD and IMS have a variety of noises. Sydney has a great variety of colours. It can be a city of torrential rain, brilliant sunlight or covered in misty fog.
• The CBD has few permanent residents. During lunch breaks, many areas of the CBD come alive with people, movement and noise. (E.g. Pitt Street Mall)

Question 46

(Sydney) Lifestyles

Answer 46

• Are diverse and depend very much on income and taste
• Sydney has an abundance of world-class entertainment. The buildings are there to support this lifestyle. There are world-class restaurants and creative cuisine. There is plenty of sporting facilities, family-style restaurants and diverse entertainments.
• There are also the urban poor.

Question 47

(Sydney) Growth, development, future trends and ecological sustainability

Answer 47

• The aim of Sydney’s growth and development is to achieve ecological sustainability while improving the quality of life for the Sydney residents.
• The challenges facing Sydney are:
o Accommodating population growth
o Protecting the usefulness of the biophysical and built environment
o Transport infrastructure and defusing traffic congestion
o Water demands
o Air and water quality
o Waste management

Question 48

(Sydney) Population Growth

Answer 48

• Now – 4.3 million
• 2031 – 5.3 million
• 2050 – up to 6 million
• Planning for 30% development on greenfields and 70% on brownfields. In particular:
o CBD and North Sydney – cultural focus, global HQs location
o Development of Hornsby and Campbelltown – secondary edge cities with medium to high density
o Newcastle and Wollongong – promoted as centres of innovation
o Global economic corridor – North Sydney to Macquarie Park, then from the CBD, through the airport to Port Botany
o Employment growth in Western Sydney motorway development
o Protection of rural and natural landscapes for recreation, e.g. Southern Highlands and Nepean areas.
• Specific strategies to control the environmental footprint through environmental targets, waterway protection and control, air quality, reduced greenhouse emissions, smarter water use, waste management and recycling.

Question 49

(Sydney) Ecological sustainability

Answer 49

• Large numbers of people live in Sydney because of its liveability and access to its facilities and urban area. The liveability of cities include:
o Opportunities for employment
o Availability of housing
o A sense of community
• The ecologically sustainable development of Sydney depends on effectively reducing resource inputs and waste outputs, while at the same time maintaining the liveability of the urban areas.
• The State govt. is attempting to reduce water consumption in Sydney, reducing it from over 400Lt to 329Lt.

Question 50

(Sydney) Issues in sustainable development

Answer 50

Global issues:
•	Generation of greenhouse gases
•	Release of CFCs and ozone depletion
•	Human population growth
National issues:
•	Pollutants in the atmosphere and sea
•	Watercourse pollution
•	Drinking water pollution
Local issues:
•	Deforestation
•	Damage to ecosystems
•	Waste disposal