Contemporary Urban Environments

• Urbanisation is not just a change in population, demographic changes may be linked to structural changes (politically) and changes in social attitudes and behaviours
• The pattern of urbanisation from: urbanisation, suburbanisation, counterurbanisation to urban resurgence may not happen in a sequence but concurrently or out of order
• In the 1980s and 1990s, the most dominant form of urbanisation in UK cities was conterurbanisation, following car development in the 1960s and 1970s
• Ubisoft is a major company which decided to relocate to an old textile mill in the downtown district of Montreal because it argued the employees work all hours, so the city is necessary. They also moved because a lot of employees lived within the city anyway. This is therefore an example of urban resurgence.
• Around 13% of land in England is a designated Green Belt
• Today, at over 5000 square miles, the Greater Tokyo area is the second largest on the planet in terms of size of urban land mass. In terms of population, it is officially the world’s largest city with a staggering 38 million people.
• Megacities = city reigons or agglomerations with populations over 10 million
• Megacities are at the top of the urban hierarchy, a lower frequency but an increase in the size and population of settlement
• In 1970, only three megacities existed. By 2014, this number had increased to 28.
• Conurbation = an extended area, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of a central city e.g. London and Birmingham
• The UN predicts a 1.1 billion increase in urban population, with 95% of this growth in LDEs and EMEs
• China has 19 megacities but the highest growth rates in the past decade have been in medium sized cities
• World cities are cities which are vastly important in the global economy. Through these cities, with their capital, knowledge, expertise and political stability that man aspects of the global economy are channelled
• GaWC examine the interconnectedness of cities, and group them into categories of alpha cities, beta cites and gamma cities
• London and New York are both alpha cities
• Interconnected world cities act as funnels for economic growth, this growth then flows to other reigons or cities which then act as centres of further economic growth
• Not all world cities are increasing in population, New York's population is declining and middle classes are moving to the suburbs
• In LDEs, where urbanisation is occuring at a rapid rate, they are unable to stimulate economic growth partly as a result of underinvestment in infrastructure, and also as a reflection of a lack of skilled workers.
• City productivity increases with size, as more able, creative and educated workers are pulled into cities
• Agglomeration economies = the presence of many people, services, industry and others in a small area has productivity gains
• Where fragmentation of administration exists, such as in some megacities, barriers to productivity emerge, such as lack of coordination and management of transport networks, land use and infrastructure.
• The movement of activity, usually industry, away from agglomerations is known as deglomeration.
• Production = Most manufacturing takes place in EMEs and LDEs, top-down decision making is made by TNCs usually in world cities
• Business, transport and trade = Globalisation has reinforced strong connections between the world. Large TNCs locate in world cities and exploit economic effects. However the global recession in 2007 illustrates the multiplier effect as both positive and negative.
• Political decision-making = Leaders of world cities influence trading and economic links between countries e.g. the mayors of London and New York promote their cities. Cities also need the right policies to support economic growth and resolve issues.
• Migration = World cities also attract large numbers of migrant workers. Whilst many are unqualified, the flows of capital also attract the most wealthy and qualified as they can take advantage of globalised flow of information and communication
• Shanghai is a world city, and numerous factors explain its success

  • Migration = More than 100,000 graduates from over 60 instituations. Over 1/4 of the city's labour force has college education
  • Production = Several cities created on the Yangtze River allow a chain of production centres.
  • Political decision-making = in 1984, it was one of 14 open cities, resulting in economic and technological development zones
  • Business = Favourable terms to overseas companies means it gets a lot of investment
• Deindustrialisation is the long-term decline of a country’s manufacturing and heavy industries
• Factors involved in deindustrialisation

  • Reduced need for labour - a result of mechanisation
  • Reduced demand - individuals prefer to spend disposable income on services
  • Globalisation of manufacturing - outsourcing labour to LDEs
  • Increased cost - political decisions means raw material costs are higher
• Detroit was known for constructing cars in the late 1900s in America, as a result of processes involved in globalisation the demand for cars decreased and Detroit fell into decline as cars were made cheaper in other countries.
• Competition for space and socio-economic push factors have led to businesses beyond the CBD and inner city. The pull of the rural-urban fringe includes out-of-town shopping centres. This leads to decentralisation.
• In 1841, 33% of working people in Great Britain worked in the service industry, by 2011, this figure has risen to 81%
• The rise of the service economy was prompted by

  • Growth in corporate headwaters, a need for multinationals to co-ordinate activity
  • Rise of the knowledge economy - development of producer services such as legal, financial and IT
  • Growth in research and development
  • Expanding consumer demand for services related to leisure
• In most countries, the total growth of jobs in the service sector since the 1950s has failed to compensate for the loss of manufacturing jobs.
• Unemployment remains a problem in most HDE towns and cities, new services are pulled towards cities at the top of the urban hierarchy as they require the national and international labour markets.
• Consumer services increasing favour suburban and edge-of-town locations in order to be near to the more affluent suburban and urban fringe populations
• GIS can be used to integrate information and present information with a location - most often associated with maps because of the capacity to represent multiple layers of digital information
• Urban form is the physical characteristics of a built up area, including the shape, size, density and make-up or configuration of settlements
• Population = globalisation has increased migration. 'Flows' of people through cities are hard to predict and manage, a lack of keeping pace will result in shortfalls in services
• Environment = established physical infrastructure such as sewer systems or water treatment works need to keep pace with population change