Urban Globalization

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews, discusses and compares 'The World is Flat' by Thomas L. Friedman, 'The State of the World's Cities' by Steven Miles, 'Planning Theory and Practice' by Tovi Fenster and 'Globalization and the City' by John Rennie Short and Yeong-Hyun Kim. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the effects that urban globalization is having on society, economics and business worldwide.

From the Paper:

"The UNCHS report asserts that culture, when taken as a social dynamic, can be seen as more than just "a challenge to the ability of cities to combine social justice with economic growth." But beyond the thought of culture posing challenges to cities, culture should be thought of as "a driver for urban economic growth," the article explains, alluding to the UNCHS report.The juxtaposition of those two concepts is dramatic: instead of an albatross on the backs of governments, culture becomes is the force that can produce "dramatic consequences both physically in transforming the urban landscape and in building their economic performance," Miles explains. How can this be done, and what is the influence of globalization?
Within a time frame that is less than 20 years, Miles continues, "the initiation of culture-driven urban (re)generation has come to occupy a pivotal position in the new urban entrepreneurialism." The UN report points to the fact that in the "global era" the role of culture has climbed up from the ground floor (or below) of cities to the place today where in many instances culture "has assumed unprecedented significance." Moreover, culture has been redefined as a "resource" and in that role it has been used "as the means for resolving political as well as socio-economic problems, including those of the city."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Fenster, Tovi, & Yacobi, Haim. (2005). Whose City is it? On Urban Planning and Local Knowledge in Globalizing Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Planning Theory & Practice, 6(2), 191-211.
• Florida, Richard. (2005). The World is Spiky: Globalization has changed the economic playingField, but hasn't leveled it. The Atlantic Monthly. Retrieved June 28, 2006, from http://www.creativeclass.org/acrobat/TheWorldIsSpiky.pdf.
• Friedman, Thomas L. (2005). The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century.New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
• Howe, Darcus. (2006). My Great-Nephew was 18 years old: two gunmen ambushed him and Ended his life. New Statesman. 135(4779), 24.
• Kincaid, Andrew. (2005). Memory and the City: Urban Renewal and Literary Memoirs in Contemporary Dublin. College Literature, 32(2), 16-42.

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• Essay # 138094 : "Urbanization and Globalization"
• Analytical Essay # 134178 : "Globalization and the Geographies of Immigration"
• Cause and Effect Essay # 120890 : "Globalization and Urban Transformation"

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