World Cities A2

Front 1

Describe the factors that allowed Urbanisation to occur.

Back 1

- The agricultural revolution made provisions for industry to be able to produce enough quantities of food to be able to supply dense urban cores sufficiently and support this lifestyle.

- Improvements in sanitation, medicine and healthcare allowed people to live in close proximity without the spread of fatal diseases that would wipe out urban populations.

- Development of transport systems and infrastructure like air travel, roads and railways meant that people were able to move into urban areas from rural districts, and also able to commute to their places of work from the outer areas of cities, and so this supported the trend.

- The growth of the middle class as affluent earners in industrialised countries, and more recently rapidly industrialising countries, has allowed families to be able to afford the move to inner city areas.

- The growth of city centres as 'central business districts' has also supported urbanisation in that it homes the centres for finance, politics, leisure and other industry which requires many workers to function, and the proximity of all these services in a small place is what has primarily lead to rapid urbanisation as the demand for skilled employees rises.

- Before the growth of service industry, the industrial revolution also provided many low-skill jobs which attracted many from rural areas to move into the city with the families, and their wages could often support this. Nowadays, however, this is less common and often leads to the development of squatter settlements in places like Dharavi, Mumbai, India.

- Innovation in energy generation such as with the mass utilisation of coal in the UK as a primary power sources has also provided sufficient electrical power to be able to support mass populations in the urban core living together in close proximity and being able to provide enough power to residential areas and other services.

Front 2

Describe and explain some of the issues faced with Urbanisation in an area you have studied.

Back 2

- Urbanisation is the process whereby city centres and urban areas increase in the proportion of population compared to rural areas; typically triggered by a culmination of natural increase and net-inward migration from rural districts.

- In places like Mumbai, India, they have faced unprecedented urbanisation in recent years, with their population almost doubling to 22 million in the last decade alone. They face around 50 families entering the city every single week, and this rate of urbanisation is seen by many in the city as unsustainable.

- It has caused many issues as many of those migrating toward the city centre often are not professionally trained and seek low-skill employment of which is already extremely saturated in the job sector, as only high-skill service-sector employment is mostly in demand in India, as their economy diversifies.

- Because these low-skill migrants enter the city and cannot find employment in the highly competitive job market, they often end up working for the informal sector, in a kid of 'cash-in-hand' basis, with no formal job security or social benefits as they are not part of the state's welfare system.

- This often leads to the development of squatter settlements / slums like that of Dharavi, the world's largest slum. Home to over 1 million people in a 20 km^2 area, many migrants faced in the same position unable to secure formal employment in the highly-competitive and saturated job sector find themselves in similar positions and form or join communities like dharavi often on unsanctioned land, illegally, where they build cheap housing and form a town.

Front 3

Urbanisation case study, Mumbai.

Back 3

General Information // Background

- Mumbai is a Megacity, quickly on its way to becoming a world city.

- Currently has a population of over ~21 Million inhabitants.

- Has experienced unprecedented growth in the last decade, increasing in population by over 10 million. In the last century alone Mumbai's population has increased by over 1000%, and this has been mostly attributed to Urbanisation.

- It still is growing quite rapidly. At present Mumbai's growth rate is two and a half times that of the national average for India.

The Current State of Mumbai's Economy (Impacts of Urbanisation).

- Mumbai currently regarded as the financial capital of India.

- Largely developed into this due to it's strategic location under colonial rule; acting as a gateway into India from the busy docks which brought goods and trade into India. Various businesses were set up in and around Mumbai to capitalize on this activity, and have later evolved to become independent from the docks as they globalization to cater for global markets; with new innovations that arrived like the internet. This onset diversification of India's economy is largely part of the reason Mumbai has become the major finance centre that it is today.

- The continuing diversification of Mumbai's economy has helped shift their primary job market towards high-skilled employment as this is highly in demand in their growing service and information based economy - which shares many parallels to London in the 80's during their post-industrialization. Much of the same is occurring in some parts of India like Mumbai, however they do retain some manufacturing due to their competitive labour costs compared to western countries.

- Mumbai's economy has improved greatly as a result. It now ranks 12th among the most 'interconnected' economies in the world, according to the World Cities and Globalization group, including headquarters for TNCs like JP Morgan and Stanlay, Volkswagen, Walt Disney and more. Mumbai is easily the most interconnected of all economies in South-Asia. This is a testament to the success of Mumbai's globalization and informationalization.

Other related Impacts:

- While Mumbai undergoes rapid urbanisation and undergoes healthy economic growth and diversification, it's transport infrastructure has been left behind. It's primary airport only serves flights to about 45-50 international destinations, whereas neighbouring Singapore offers to over 200. Plans to build a new $2.5 Billion airport East of the current Mumbai airport are under way, and this will prove essential for Mumbai to become a world city and become increasingly connected with the rest of the world.