Urban World/global City

David Clark

Psychology Press, 2003 - Architecture - 235 pages

The millennium marked a symbolic transition in the history of human settlement. Over half of the world's six billion people now live in towns and cities. The world is an urban place. This book identifies and accounts for the characteristics of the contemporary city and of urban society. It analyses the distribution and growth of settlements and explores the social and behavioural characteristics of urban living. The latest theoretical and empirical developments and insights are synthesized and presented in an accessible way. Emphasis throughout is placed upon the world scale, urban developments being seen as the geographical consequences of the evolution of capitalism. Individual chapters focus upon populations and places, growth and urbanization, urban development as a global phenomenon, socio-economic consequences of global urban development, urban culture and global urban society, world cities and the urban future. This second edition has been extensively updated and referenced. Each chapter includes sets of learning objectives, annotated readings and topics for discussion.

Contents

• Global patterns and perspectives: 1
• Studying the urban world: 5
• A global economy?: 8
• A global society?: 12
• Globalisation debates: 13
• Conclusion: 16
• Topics for discussion: 17
• Urban populations and places: 18
• The contemporary urban world: 19
• A world of towns and cities: 25
• City size distributions and the global urban hierarchy: 32
• Economic theories of urban formation: 38
• Social theories of urban formation: 44
• Conclusion: 45
• Recommended reading: 46
• Topics for discussion: 47
• Urban growth and urbanisation historical patterns: 48
• Urban growth: 50
• Urbanisation: 56
• Stages of urban development: 62
• Reasons for urban growth and urbanisation: 66
• Stages of global urban development: 71
• Urbanisation in a capitalist world economy: 76
• Conclusion: 84
• Recommended reading: 85
• Topics for discussion: 86
• Urban development as a global phenomenon: 87
• The new global economic order: 91
• Global finance: 98
• Global services: 100
• The urbanisation of the developing world: 102
• Conclusion: 108
• Recommended reading: 109
• Topics for discussion: 110
• Socioeconomic consequences of global urban development: 111
• The urban informal sector: 114
• Shanty towns: 119
• Service provision: 125
• Health: 127
• Conclusion: 131
• Topics for discussion: 132
• Urban culture and global urban society: 134
• Culture and community in an aspatial world: 137
• Global media services: 143
• Urban imagery and values: 146
• Global urban culture or cultures?: 148
• Conclusion: 152
• Recommended reading: 153
• Topics for discussion: 155
• World cities: 156
• The hierarchy of world cities: 159
• The growth and activities of the institutions of global capital: 163
• The concentration of command and control: 169
• Business information and decisionmaking: 172
• Increasing global reach: 178
• Representing and promoting places as world cities: 181
• Tokyo as an example of a world city: 186
• Conclusion: 188
• Recommended reading: 189
• Topics for discussion: 190
• The future urban world: 191
• The urban future: 192
• Issues of sustainability: 198
• Urban sustainability: 200
• Managing the urban future: 208
• Conclusion: 212
• Recommended reading: 215
• Topics for discussion: 216
• Urban sources definitions and data: 217
• Data: 220
• Recommended reading: 222
• References: 223
• Index: 232

About the author

David Clark is Professor of Urban Geography at Coventry University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Urban World/global City; Urban World/global City, David Clark
• Author: David Clark
• Edition: illustrated, reprint, annotated
• Publisher: Psychology Press, 2003
• ISBN: 0415320976, 9780415320979
• Length: 235 pages
• Subjects: Architecture / Urban & Land Use Planning; Science / Earth Sciences / Geography; Social Science / General; Social Science / Human Geography; Social Science / Sociology / General; Social Science / Sociology / Urban; Technology & Engineering / Environmental / General