10 people movers 2015
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PEOPLE MOVERS
Urbanisation and migration
Are you a Londoner?
F
Using examples from contemporary London, discuss the extent to which the ‘world city’ promotes post-national cultural identities.
Our journey
The urbanisation of humanity
The pull of the world city
The dynamics of London life
The squalor of slums
More notes on the reflections
Urbanisation
At the beginning of the 19th Century, 97% of all people lived in settlements of less than 5,000 people
The world was 30% urban in 1950 but 50% urban by the early 21st century
By 2010 there were almost 200 cities of more than two million people and cities have absorbed 2/3rds of population growth since 1950
The UN predicts urbanisation levels of 66% by 2050
Crowding together
Urbanisation is not necessarily occurring because of a lack of land
All of humanity, each in a townhouse, could fit into an area the size of Texas (Glaesar, 2011)
Yet, five million more people join the crowded cities in the developing world each month, despite a lack of space and resources
Urban developments
For many sociologists, modernisation, industrialisation and urbanisation are closely linked
Agricultural surpluses allowed humanity to live in closer proximity, manufacturing things and providing services that are not necessary for people to live
Conversely, some people have been forced to urbanise because they are unable to feed themselves otherwise
Location does matter
Despite communication technology bringing about the ‘death of distance’, humanity thrives in cities because of their proximity to other people
Cities draw talented, and younger, people together and create greater connections and collaboration
The advantages of denser populations allow for more differentiated cultural attractions and better public services
Workers tend to be much more productive and highly paid in bigger cities
The experiential city
Following a turn away from suburban lifestyles in the 1990s, increasingly cities are seeking to attract young professionals with money through the ‘experience economy’
These people are looking for an ‘experience’ or ‘lifestyle’ rather than safety, security and serenity
One of the big appeals of diverse cities like London is that there is ‘always something happening’
What is the dream?
Why?
City dynamics
Urban living has changed the structure of our shared social lives – the way cities are organised has a substantial affect upon our agency and lifestyles
City living tends to weaken cultural traditions, becoming places of cultural reinvention and transformation The denser the city the more options we have for expressing
ourselves
The denser the city (more physical proximity) the more
emotionally distant we seem to become (to strangers)
Simmel and the senses
Sociologist Georg Simmel (1858-1918) argued that the stimulation of the city is too much for many people
To cope, we ‘tune out’ emotionally and physically, becoming isolated individuals amongst a sea of people
Do you talk to people on the
tube?
Why not?
The world city
Despite these issues, cities continue to attract people and to be seen as desirable – particularly the ‘world city’ (sometimes known as a ‘global’ or ‘alpha’ city)
These cities – London, New York, Paris, Tokyo – are locations of post-national identity that host a wide range of ‘cosmopolitan’ cultural practices
World cities also act as global economic ‘nodes’
The globally economic city
Urban centres are our main source of wealth: Approximately 80% of global GDP is produced in urban areas
World cities are not global purely because of their size, but their integration into the global economy
They tend to be traditional industrial cities like New York, London, Paris
and Tokyo
They are centres of transport – from ports to airports – and finance
Companies may have headquarters in each of these cities and they
become centres for the investment and accumulation of capital
They are recognised as sites of innovation and creativity
Case study: London
London was first settled by the Romans around 43 A.D.
Following sporadic developments, by 1831 London was the world’s largest city and a cultural hub
Beyond its industrial roots, London has become one of the main centres of finance
London’s architecture and urban structure is testament to its history
London: Facts
91% of Londoners work in the service sector
56% of new residents (27% total) are foreign born, up from 38% in 1992
45% are ‘White British’, compared to 87% of the UK
London generates approximately 1/5th of UK GDP, despite being 1/8th of the total population
Average weekly earnings in London: £653, UK: £509
Most desirable part of London?
‘Coolest’ part of London? Best market in London? Most dangerous part of
London?
Best museum or tourist
attraction? Best park? Busiest tube line? Worst tube line? ‘Centre’ of London?
What is the …
Gentrification
Gentrification is a form of urban renewal or ‘recycling’ in which “working class residential neighbourhoods are rehabilitated by middle class homebuyers, landlords and professional developers” (Smith, 1982, p.139)
This can come from specific planned projects or from the ‘natural cycle’ of investment
The first step is for young professionals/creatives to move into the area because it is affordable and then ‘hip’, and then it becomes ‘established’
Gentrification tends to ‘improve’ the area, but not necessarily for the benefit of its residents
“You can imagine an alternative scenario where a warlord decides he doesn’t like
the current people living in a part of town, and he wants to bring his
aristocracy in instead. He get’s his army, pillages people and throws them out...
The really complicated thing about gentrification is that the same process is
happening, but nobody can claim responsibility, no one perceives anything
wrong being done."
Is gentrification good for
London(ers)?
Beyond the world city
Megacities, those containing 10 million or more people, have been created as different cities become increasingly merged
There are 20 of these mega-cities, most of them in the developing world
What do you think are the top ten largest cities in
the world?
Beyond the West
The underside of ‘mega-cities’ is the development of huge areas of urban slums
95% of all projected population growth is in urban areas of the developing world (Davis, 2006, p.2)
Approximately one billion people live in urban slums, with two billion predicted before 2050
Areas such as that between Rio and Sao Paulo in Brazil and in Western Africa (between Benin City and Accra) where 60 million people will cram into a strip of 600 kilometres, are sites of ‘mega-slums’
Urban areas in some countries, such as Ethiopia and Chad (both 99.4%) are essentially all slums and others like Mumbai (10-12 million), Mexico City and Dhaka (9-10 million) have huge slums populations
Victorian slums
Unprecedented population growth in London in the 18th century created ‘Victorian’ slums, predominately in East London (as well as other parts of the UK)
These slums featured much the same conditions as those experienced in the developing world: Cramped living conditions
Insanitariness
Crime and ‘vice’
Slum-dwellers, often immigrants, were seen as ‘sub-human’
Ending slums
There were many ‘slum-clearance’ programmes, as well as increasing state welfare
Economic development slowly improved conditions for the poor
Many slum-dwellers were able to escape to the newly established colonies
Escaping to the Colonies (N.Z)
Exporting slums
Victorian slums conditions are now prevalent in the developing world, as are slum clearances
Traditional economic wisdom (see Sachs, 2008, p.26) is that urbanisation can only occur when agricultural productivity is high
Yet, when people do not have their own land urban areas often provide a greater chance for income if agricultural surpluses are unavailable
More people are joining the slums of the developing world, despite little prospect for their development
Urbanisation – a summary
The world is becoming increasingly urbanised
This urbanisation provides benefits to cities in the developed world through density and diversity that leads to ‘post-national’ cosmopolitan identities
Cities are also a site of social and cultural alienation
Urbanisation has also been a significant trend in the developing world and has led to the emergence of massive slums and a potential ‘surplus humanity’
Next week
WEEK 11 WELCOME HOME, HISTORY: RESISTANCE, SECURITY AND TERROR
READING
Fukuyama, Francis (1989) The End of History. The National Interest. http://www.wesjones.com/eoh.htm
Zygmunt Bauman, Z., Bigo, D., Esteves, P, Guild, E., Jabri, V., Lyon, D. and Walker, R.B.J (2014)
After Snowden: Rethinking the Impact of Surveillance. International Political Sociology, 8, pp.121-144
Reflection (minor) notes
Assessments don’t have to be exactly the word limit
Don’t put your names on the script
Minimise little errors (especially capitals and semi-colons!)
The more academic literature the better, generally
Less description/generalisations/more critical analysis