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Photo: Simon Turner. Global cities - the urban age. 1: Exploring global cities. Urban age project http://lsecities.net/ua/. 1.1: Introducing global cities. An urban hierarchy. City limits?. London commuting. The London plan. Richard Florida ‘Megalopolis’.
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Photo: Simon Turner Global cities - the urban age
1: Exploring global cities Urban age project http://lsecities.net/ua/
City limits? London commuting The London plan
Richard Florida ‘Megalopolis’
Changing distribution of cities www.worldkit.org/population www.citypopulation.de/world/Agglomerations.html
China: ‘Enter the dragon’ • Net addition ½ billion urban population • Accounting for ¼ of global economic growth by 2030 • Most rapid rural-to-urban transition in human history. • Under 20% urban 1970 to over 50% by 2020
1.2 Defining a global city • Command points in the organisation of the world economy • Key locations and marketplaces for finance and specialised services • Major sites of production, including innovations • Around 70 worldwide Sassen Cities in a world economy
Key locations and marketplaces Competitive citieshttp://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23937216-hands-off-barclays-boris-johnson-warns-new-york-mayor-michael-bloomberg.do
Centres of innovation • Major information and communication centres • Access to the largest markets (for specialist and mass consumption) • Competitive environment requires business to innovate • Encourage formal and informal interaction between wide range of financial, managerial, technical, marketing and trade skills and experience • Diverse networks, information loops produce knowledge capital. • Global capitalism demands such knowledge • Even a low innovation success rate leads to a virtuous circle of innovation and success. • Adapted from Wood, P. (2004) Discovering Cities - Central London GA
2.1Urbanisation and development “for many poor nations, urbanisation has little to do with industrialisation, but rather is linked with the creation of jobs in the service sector” (Potter 2008)
Life in 21st Century Cities “we have reached the end of an era of association of urbanisation with Western style industrialisation and socio-economic characteristics” (Dwyer)
London’s ecological footprint • 125 times its own area to provide the resources it consumes • 197,500 sq km • UK has 210,000 sq km productive surface
www.citylimits.com www.capitalwastefacts.com
Another view of London Employment 1971-2030 • 8% of UK carbon emissions • 12% of population • 20% of GDP • Lower waste per capita • Less water and electricity per £1 gross value added • Lower CO2 per £1 gross value added
Ecopolis now? • city builders "worshipped at the altar of the automotive god, and idealised mobility and freedom” Peter Hall, professor of planning and regeneration UCL • “to improve the social and environmental condition of cities the top priority is to cut car use”
The urban consumer www.citylimits.com
Assessing sustainability • Environmental impact – in terms of resource use and pollution • Quality of life – what the city is like for people to live in • Future-proofing – how well the city is preparing for a sustainable future http://www.forumforthefuture.org/
London’s future footprint Household waste Transport