Globalization Urbanization And The State

Comprises ten papers on the impact of globalization and neoliberal policies on economic development in Latin America between 1982 and 1990.

As towns and cities expand at unprecedented rates, sustainable urban development is one of the most pressing challenges facing the international community in the 21st century. This publication examines the realities faced by urban populations around the world, focusing on the impact of globalisation and the way cities are governed and planned, on the make-up and density of their population, and on their cultures and economies. Issues considered include: the impact of globalisation on urban culture; urban renewal and cultural strategies; the concept of metropolitanization; socio-economic and cultural impacts of international migration; urban poverty and homelessness, social inequality and exclusion; urban governance, safety and crime trends; contemporary planning strategies and the role of civil society; progress towards attainment of the Millennium Development Goals targets for sanitation and housing. The report highlights the need for a new culture of planning to establish multicultural and inclusive cities, involving civil society as well as public authorities.

Extensive case studies of cities such as Sydney, Seoul and Miami are provided.

Fluidity of Place presents an interdisciplinary conversation with theories of space-time, place, and globalization at the cutting edge of social theory. Focusing on the construction of urban space in the context of hyper-mobility, it examines the social relations that form 'place' in a globalized world. The first half of the book discusses globalization theory and looks at place in relation to the fluidity brought about by recent technological advances. The second half details the construction of understandings of Asian mega-cities, particularly Jakarta, and examines the realities behind narratives of over-urbanization in light of globalization and the concomitant fluidity of place. The book makes a compelling argument about the competing claims to place in a world where the nation-state has lost control of its borders.

During the past decade, the world reached the point of becoming more urban than not, as the majority of people on the planet now live not in small towns or villages but in provincial, national, and global cities. Scholars have long been fascinated by so-called global cities, world cities, and the urban engines of the global economy. James H. Spencer argues, however, that such an emphasis misses the central fact that urbanization goes well beyond the usual suspects of New York, Tokyo, London, and Shanghai. The author charts urbanization across the Global South and North, resulting in what he describes as a planetary global urban ecosystem. This concept that challenges us to realize that in daily life, their similar physical and social ecosystems that make cities more understandable to each other than to their own rural hinterlands. Spencer’s vivid case studies of Addis Ababa, Ho Chi Minh City, Honolulu, and New York draw out the commonalities of our intertwined built and social environments and how they express a shared humanity across continents and cultures.

This book combines a historical narrative of urbanisation in Los Angeles with an examination of its changing social geography. It provides a solid base from which to understand and explore the city further and a defined emphasis on recent developments. It focuses on the role of local actors in the globalisation of Los Angeles and traces the ways in which local states, boosters, labour unions, social movements, neighbourhood and community organisations and other agents participate in negotiated world city formation.

"Globalization, Urbanization, and Civil Society is an interdisciplinary compilation of chapters concerning civil society in the global geopolitical context. The establishment of civil society is essential for urbanism and the global community because it is the sense and essence of development concerning what humankind is, as a collective entity on the globe. This thought-provoking book covers the multidimensional aspects, issues, challenges, and consequences of geopolitics and globalization on civil society, including freedom in the public sphere, alienation, neo-fascism, social cohesion, racial inequality, political narcissism, political-economic exceptionalism, Islamic radicalism, social justice, and resistance. The author brings a fresh and essentially non-Western critical perspective to bear on the fundamental challenges faced by civil society as a result of the globalization of corporate capitalism in the Digital Age, as well as providing a rich perspective on colonialism. This book will appeal to scholars and graduate students of geopolitics and globalization, global development, sociology, international relations, cultural studies, psychology, and philosophy, as well as practitioners and policymakers who are interested in interdisciplinary approaches in the field of global studies"--