COMMUNITY,

URBANIZATION,
& GLOBAL CITIES
What is
Community? In sociology, we define
We start students thinking about community community as a group who follow
using the work of Ferdinand Toennies. He
used the concept of gemienschaft to study a social structure within a society
the close social ties in rural and pre-industrial
societies, where everyone knows one another (culture, norms, values, status).
and bonds overlap. For example your local
grocerer is also your neighbour, you socialise They may work together to
together and you may be their children’s
teacher. Gesellschaft is the opposite. organise social life within a
Toennies used this to describe urban, post-
industrial communities where people don’t particular place, or they may be
necessarily know their neighbours and locals
have specialised roles. You may not know bound by a sense of belonging
your grocerer by name or associate outside
their shop. sustained across time and space.
Characteristics of a Community
 Population aggregate preferable to human group.
 Delimited area. It exists somewhere; it occupies a particular space, a measurable
habitat; every community has a center.
 Sharing of historical heritage. This implies an interest in the area's past, a concern
for what has happened.
 The number of service institutions. This should be enough to meet the needs of the
people so that they live within the area if they so decide.
 Participating in a common life. This refers to the life pursuit of people day by day,
the year round. This means that the people must have common lifestyle.
 Consciousness of local unity. This means much the same as community spirit, which
a community exists in the minds of its members as an object of attention and
concern.
Ability to act together in solving civic problems. This is the best single test of a
community; in times of crises, people acting together must achieve and maintain
control or else they will face the loss of cherished values, their way of life, or the
death of their community.
Criteria for Classification of Community
DAVIS (1969)

 The size of the population (whether thick or scarce)

Secondary association - their presence will indicate diversity

Social tolerance - caused by the diversity of the population and

Secondary controls - controls regulating the complex and

Urbanization? changes from time to time and place to

Urbanization, the process by which large place, but it is most usual to explain the
numbers of people become permanently term as a matter of demographics. The
concentrated in relatively small areas,
forming cities. United Nations does not have its own
definition of “urban” but instead follows
Urbanization refers to the process of
concentration of population through the definitions used in each country,
migration patterns. which may vary considerably. The United
In almost all countries, people tend to
migrate to urban centers. According to States, for instance, uses “urban place”
anthropologists, this movement is to mean any locality where more than
caused by a push from the province
because of poverty and an attraction to 2,500 people live. In Peru the term is
city life. applied to population centres with 100
or more dwellings.
The following are the classifications of urban environments
Urbanized area. This contains a central city and is continuously built up
closely-settled surrounding territory that together have a population of
50,000 or more. Urbanized area refers to a certain place, while urbanization
refers to the process of concentration through migration patterns.
Metropolitan area. This has a large population nucleus, together with
adjacent communities that are economically and socially integrated into
that nucleus. It emerges as an industrial city that expands outward,
incorporating towns and villages into its systems of highways, mass
communication and transportation,industry, and government.
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). This has either one or more central
cities,each with a population of at least 50,000, or a single urbanized area
that has atleast 50,000 people and that is part of an MSA with a total
population of 100,000. Each MSA also contains at least one central county,
with outlying counties that are mostly rural but have close economic and
social ties to the central counties, cities, and urbanized areas in the MSA.
 Global cities are major nodes in
the interconnected systems of
information and money, and the
wealth that they capture intimately
related to the specialized businesses
that facilitate those flows.
According to Sassen (2005),
global cities are central sites for
advanced services and facilities of
telecommunication which are
necessary for the execution and the
management of global economic
activities . In those sites, corporate
headquarters tend to center,
particularly companies that are
operative in more than one country.
Examples of global cities are New York,
London, Tokyo, Paris, and Singapore.
The global city is, therefore, the main
physical and geographic playground of the
globalizing forces: in this space of population
concentration and mixing, the global flows of
people, capital, and ideas are woven into the
daily lived experiences of its residents.
Cosmopolitan is a phenomenon most
readily associated with the global city: large,
diverse cities attraction, material and cultural
products from all over the world.
The idea of cosmopolitanism usually
invokes pleasant images to travel,
exploration, and ‘worldly’ pursuits enjoyed by
those who have benefited from globalization
and who can, in some ways, consider
themselves citizens of the world
(Steger,2014).
General Characteristics of Global Cities
Presence of international financial institutions, law firms, and
stock exchanges (i.e., New York Stock Exchange)
Presence of world-renowned cultural institutions (i.e.,
museum, universities)
Presence of several powerful and influential media outlets
with an international reach ( i.e., The New York Times,
Agence France-Presse)
Presence of a major sports facilities, home teams in major
league sports, and the ability and historical experience to
host international sporting events ( i.e., Olympics , World
Cups)
 The GaWC inventory identified
three levels of world cities and
Alpha world cities several sub-ranks
Beta world cities Gamma world
(full service world (major world cities (minor world
cities cities) cities)
• 12 points: London, • 9 points: San • 6 points: Amsterdam,
New York Francisco, Sydney, Boston, Caracas, Dallas,
Dusseldorf, Geneva,
Paris, Toronto, Zurich Houston, Jakarta,
Tokyo • 8 points: Brussels, Johannesburg, Melbourne,
Osaka, Prague, Santiago,
• 10 points: Chicago, Madrid, Mexico City, Taipei, Washington
Frankfurt, Hong Sao Paolo • 5 points: Bangkok, Beijing,
Kong, Los Angeles, • 7 points: Moscow, Montreal, Rome, Stockholm,
Milan, Singapore Warsaw
Seoul
• 4 points : Atlanta,
Barcelona, Berlin,
Budapest, Buenos Aires,
Copenhagen, Hamburg,
Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur,
Manila, Miami, Minneapolis,
 In 1994, GaWC redefined and re-categorized the
classifications as follows:
Global niche cities-
Well rounded global specialized global
cities contributions
I. Very large contribution: I. Economic: Hongkong,
London and New York City Singapore, and Tokyo
II. Smaller contribution and II. Political and Social:
with cultural bias: Los
Brussels, Geneva,
Angeles, Paris, and San
Francisco Strasbourg, and
Washington
III. Incipient global cities:
Amsterdam, Boston,
Chicago, Madrid, Milan,
Moscow, Toronto
 Global City Index
Global City index consists of indicators and parameters used to determine and
measure the categories of global cities and to what extent they function as
global cities. Global Cities index uses criteria across five dimensions:
Business activity – presence of headquarters, services firms, number of
international conferences, value of good through ports and airports.
Human capital – size of foreign-born population, quality of universities,
number of international schools, international student population
Information exchange – accessibility of major TV news, number of
international news bureaus
Cultural experience – number of sporting events, museums, performing arts
venues
Political engagement – number of embassies, consulties, international
organization, political conferences
Global City Power Index
1) Economy – refers to market attractiveness, economic vitality,
business environment
2) Research and development – refers to research background,
readiness for accepting and supporting researches, and research
achievement
3) Cultural interaction – refers to trendsetting potential, accommodation
environment, dining and shopping, and volume of interaction
4) Livability – refers to working environment, cost of living, security and
safety, and life support functions
5) Environment- refers to ecology, pollution, and natural environment
6) Accessibility – refers to international transport infrastructure and
inner city transportation infrastructure
THANKS FOR YOUR LISTENING
2014.12.14