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PAD 3800 Managing Global Cities

Module 3 WU Article

Introduction:

“It was necessary to accommodate the growing number of manufacturing workers relocated as a result of the restructuring of the inner city as well as the overall urban expansion” (Wu, 2011, 515). This article Globalization and Emerging Office and Commercial Landscapes in Shanghai by Wu (2011) best represents my view of global cities and the development that has taken place with time as well as the reasons for development. One of the statements from the article best presents emerging needs for office space and more complexes. The statement is important in understanding the planning of Shanghai City, China. The emergence of manufacturing workers relocating from the inner city raised the need to have complexes which could accommodate the workers and also the stores. The development of the city complexes could be linked to the planning implementation and broad market transition. The transition called for an increase in office space within the city and in the outskirts of the city to cater for the growing demand. It is important to always have planning and documentation carried out within a given timeframe and with the growth in demand in order to have a city that is wrongly designed or congested unnecessarily or a city which cannot give space for further growth and implementation.

The growing number of manufacturing workers resulted into the development of well-designed complexes to accommodate both businesses and offices. The emergence of office spaces in Shanghai city, China, can be directly attributed to growing market forces. The complexes were large enough and designed for retailing, which is located in the lower floors, just a few of them, and it accommodates mainly the stores. Since the demand for offices was higher than that of the retail shops, the higher and majority of the floors were designed to accommodate offices. There were few office spaces in Shanghai China at the time since the use of offices was mainly for the top management and the rest of the employees were little considered for use of office space. This depicts what happens in the large and developing cities in the world. The design of the cities keeps changing with the demand and the need. The planning implementation and market demand have to match or else the buildings constructed will not be useful or they will not serve the purpose. This calls for regular review of the panning of the cities as it is being implemented so that they match the market demands as they keep changing from time to time.

Global Influence and Local Control

The development of the different cities worldwide may be controlled by outside influences and actualized by the local control. Global development in some way dictates the way the developing cities are structured. "Urban development in Shanghai has typified the process of decentralization and highlights the dynamics of land market reform and concentration of foreign investment" (Wu, 2011, p.512). The emergence of new office and commercial landscapes in Shanghai, China, was prompted by the international market rising need. However, developing these landscapes was vested on the local governments, below the municipal level, and they were required to spend their capital to bring up these landscapes to match the standards that the international market was dictating for the city. The influence of other cities around the world that matched Shanghai's standards made it necessary to have the new landscapes.

Inequality:

Income inequalities are still a real issue in China. It has a negative impact on economic development, raises the burden on high levels of social transfer payments, and may also be a possible cause of social unrest. Is no secret that China’s income inequality has been a big issue over the ages, their salary is less than one dollar, they make them work excessively and in their salary is include there, housing, food and transportation. Making it a complete exploitation of workers and increasing in poverty as well. China has experienced rapid economic growth over the past two decades and is on the brink of eradicating poverty However, income inequality increased sharply from the early 1980s and rendered China among the most unequal countries in the world (Sonali Jain-Chandra).

Conclusion:

Module 7 Sivam

Introduction:

“Some of the housing legislation enforced in Delhi adversely affects the production of housing. Finance policy for housing does not include schemes to provide housing loans to people in the informal sector, and mobilization of resources for housing by this large segment of the population is often restricted to self-savings and borrowing from relatives” (Sivam, 140). This article by Sivam confirms my views on housing affordability and availability in many urban centers. The increase in population growth rate in many cities has caused an acute shortage in housing especially for the low-income earners who are crammed in overcrowded slums. Like in Delhi, many urban towns are faced with the same issue of housing affordability and availability to low income earners who are unable to afford the mortgages required.

Many urban housing centers cater for the middle and upper classes leaving the poor in slums whose lower housing costs match the need to minimize housing expenditure. Informal structures arise out of non-availability and unaffordability of legal formal housing (Sivam, 136). Insecurity and legality of tenure and low development standards of infrastructure characterize the informal sector which arise based on the method used to gain access to land. Squatters like in Delhi are mainly found on vacant unexploited government land, lands with long legal disputes or land with absentee landlords. In most cases the formal housing market is incapable of providing adequate housing to the urban settlers because of existing regulations and controls, poor coordination with public agencies that provide trunk infrastructure, poor management of housing projects, lack of financial instruments to offer loans to low income groups and the delivery mechanism (Sivam, 137).

 Land supply has become in adequate leading to an increase in land rates and the land bank policy has reduced the rate of acquisition of land in many areas. Legal acquisition of land often leads to legal disputes which take long periods of time to resolve and land policy is cumbersome, expensive and time consuming. Low income earners lack significant access to formal housing finance and funding is derived from family savings, sales of assets and loans from friends and relatives. The informal sector is often deprived of institutional loans for housing agendas because commercial banks do not offer unsecured loans.

Inequality:

Vision:

Conclusion:

Module 11 Banister

Introduction:

The scale of the problem has been totally underestimated, and the actions being taken by governments at all levels are not addressing the seriousness of the issues. Even the actions taken by the most environmentally aware individuals are not sufficient, as it has proved very difficult to stabilize the level of carbon emissions from transport, let alone reduce them (Banister, 2011, p.1539). The article, Cities, Mobility, and Climate Change by Banister fully confirms my views about climate change and the carbon emissions from the transport sector. There is little seriousness on the way the issue of carbon emissions from the transport sector, especially in the major cities, is being handled. If this does not change, it will be very hard to have a transport sector which takes care of the environment and which minds the emissions being done. The fact that the transport sector is a major contributor to climate change around the world cannot be denied, yet it has been overlooked by many governments and environmentalists. The fact is that there is always something which can be done to reduce the rate of emissions.

With the current state of globalization, the world travel history has changed. Moving from one city to the other or from one town to the other has become easy, all due to the improvements in the transport sector. Some developed cities, especially in the EU have tried to improve on their transport sector to reduce the rate of carbon emissions but it has proven to be difficult. Some cities have banned cars in the city centers to decrease the emissions, but the travel distance has increased drastically (Banister, 2011). This has acted to nullify the efforts made. However, with the advancements in technology that these cities have, it is possible to reduce the rates of emissions in these cities and the countries at large. The cities should be in a position of reducing the emissions using technology, especially with the invent of hybrid cars and electric cars. This would go far long to reduce the rate of climate change in the world.

Some developed countries have also not taken the aspect of carbon emissions from the transport sector seriously and thus, they continue to risk the world by increasing the rate of climate change. United States emits 21 percent of the total carbon globally every year, which is the highest from a single country (Banister, 2011). However, United States has not signed any international treaty on reduction of carbon emissions and thus, it remains unbound by any global regulation on carbon emissions. This shows that the rate of seriousness on carbon emission is very low. The country is one of the largest economies of the world and one of the most developed countries. It is possible to reduce their emissions from the transport sector using technology.

Global Influence and Local Control:

The theme of global influence and local control can also be illustrated using Banister's article. The local governments in the cities have a larger portion of implementing climate change laws as set by the global and the national levels. "The outlook is brighter at the city level, as many local governments have taken on a leadership role in addressing the transport problems as they relate to carbon emissions, but there is considerable variation between cities." (Banister, 2011, p.1539). The role of addressing carbon emissions from the transport industry, especially from cars, which are the main sources of emissions is majorly addressed by the local governments today.

Vision:

Conclusion:

Reference

Banister, D. (2011). Cities, mobility and climate change. Journal of Transport Geography, 19(6), 1538-1546.

Sivam, A. (2003). Housing supply in Delhi. Cities, 20(2), 135-141.

Sonali Jain-Chandra, N. (n.d.). Inequality in China – Trends, Drivers and Policy Remedies.

Sivam, A. (2003). Housing supply in Delhi. Cities, 20(2), 135-141.

Wu, J. (2011). Globalization and emerging office and commercial landscapes in Shanghai. Urban Geography, 32(4), 511-530.