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


What is the … Most desirable part of London?

Best museum or tourist attraction?

‘Coolest’ part of London?

Best park?

Best market in London?

Busiest tube line?

Most dangerous part of

Worst tube line?

London?

‘Centre’ of London?




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 megacities, 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 W EEK 11 SECURITY

W ELCOME HOME , AND T ERROR

HISTORY:

R ESISTANCE ,

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.121144


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


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