Chapter 3 : A new worldwide typology of cities and systems of cities (original) (raw)
Related papers
A New World Typology of Cities and Systems of Cities
Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences, 2018
The chapter proposes an overview of global urbanization since 1950, relying on the structural and dynamic principles of the evolutionary theory of urban systems and on the observations of some of the major financial linkages connecting cities. We analyze first an overview of the state of urbanization at the world scale using statistics collected and provided for all 195 nationstates of the United Nations. We then examine the extent to which the income level and human development index of countries are correlated with the urbanization rates. Trajectories of cities underline the booming cities including many Asiatic and African cities opposed to the relative declining cities. The total weight of emerging metropolises mostly located in Southern countries, passed the total population of the other groups of relatively declining cities between 1980 and 2010. It is highly critical for the urban future that the large majority of urban citizens of the world (more than 60%) will be living in these emerging cities in 2030. It will require finding adapted ways to manage urban growth and ecological transition in these developing systems. This global approach finally leads to the partition of the world we used in the book to analyze more precisely the evolution of individual national or continental urban systems.
Introduction: A global view of urbanization
2018
Urbanization and the urban way of life are now universal phenomena across the globe. Symbolically, and for the first time in history, over 50 percent of the world’s population is now classified as urban. Even larger proportions of the world’s economic activities and social transformations take place in cities, especially larger cities. Although too often described as an “event” or as a challenging turn, this crossing of a threshold does not represent a sudden change in the evolution of the complex urban systems. There is a surprising continuity in the recent history of urbanization in each region of the world that can be modeled and predicted. What is new and may represent a true bifurcation in this history is indeed to be observed in the spatial distribution of urban growth that has shifted from around the Atlantic towards the Pacific regions and African continent and from the richest towards the poorest countries of the world.
World Urbanisation: Trends and Patterns
Springer Nature, Singapore, 2020
This chapter attempts to overview the trend and regional pattern of world urbanisation. It also analyses the spatial pattern of urban hierarchy of cities by size class of settlements. The results show that global urban population has grown significantly from 0.75 billion in 1950 to 4.22 billion in 2018. The projected estimates show that by mid-twenty-first century, 68% of the world's population will live in urban areas. The growth trend of global population shows a consistent increase in urban population during 1950-2025, thereafter, a slowdown is projected during 2025-2050. The spatial pattern of urbanisation shows that epicentre of the urbanisation has shifted from global north to global south. Cities in Asia and Africa are currently growing faster as compared to other regions, and future estimates show that African cities will take the lead globally during 2015-2050 with faster growth rate. The highest number of mega and large cities have increasingly mushroomed in Asia and Africa. Projections indicate that this trend is likely to continue. The concentration of small-and medium-sized cities in these two regions has also increased over time. Two Asian countries-China and India will be home of some of the world's largest cities in twenty-first century. The future global urban population will be concentrated mainly in Asia and Africa. In contrast, several cities in Northern America and Europe are shrinking. The challenges posed by climate change are likely to impact the entire globe. With increasing level of urbanisation, cities of the global south are facing multiple challenges of food security, poverty, access to housing and basic amenities, especially with regard to the urban poor. In this context, it is important to highlight that national urban policies in Asian and African countries, which are currently least equipped to deal the challenges of urbanisation, need to address these issues in a manner which will lead to sustainable development. Countries from these two regions need to build capacities to deal with the added challenges of globalisation, income and spatial disparities as well as demographic dividend. National urban policies could be instrumental in guiding these countries towards sustainable and resilient future.
Revisiting the “City Life Cycle”: Global Urbanization and Implications for Regional Development
Sustainability, 2020
A comparative, diachronic analysis of urban population dynamics allows for the identification of specific demographic trajectories influencing metropolitan expansion worldwide. However, a wide-ranging characterization of long-term population trends in metropolitan areas identifying sequential urban cycles with distinctive demographic dynamics is still incomplete. By hypothesizing a trade-off between ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ population dynamics that reflect ‘high’ and ‘low’ fertility regimes in both advanced and emerging economies, the present work investigates the relationship between city size (considering absolute population) and population growth rate in 1857 metropolitan agglomerations (>300,000 inhabitants in 2014) of 154 countries across the globe. Analysis covers a relatively long time period (1950–2030) and uses descriptive statistics (average and coefficient of variation) of the spatial series of population growth rates derived from United Nations demographics by metropolitan a...
The dynamics of global urban expansion
Transport and Urban …, 2005
The opinions and the information presented in this report are the sole responsibility of the authors of the report, and in no way reflect the policies of the World Bank. Care has been taken to avoid mistakes, and the remaining mistakes are also the sole responsibility of the authors of the report.
International and Transnational Perspectives on Urban Systems
Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences, 2018
Urbanization and the urban way of life are now universal phenomena across the globe. Symbolically, and for the first time in history, over 50 percent of the world's population is now classified as urban. Even larger proportions of the world's economic activities and social transformations take place in cities, especially larger cities. Although too often described as an "event" or as a challenging turn, this crossing of a threshold does not represent a sudden change in the evolution of the complex urban systems. There is a surprising continuity in the recent history of urbanization in each region of the world that can be modeled and predicted. What is new and may represent a true bifurcation in this history is indeed to be observed in the spatial distribution of urban growth that has shifted from around the Atlantic towards the Pacific regions and African continent and from the richest towards the poorest countries of the world. This urban process, as it continues to evolve in highly varied manifestations in cities, countries and global regions, offers opportunities for both increasing prosperity and reducing global poverty; it also presents serious challenges for local and national governments and agencies, as well as for international organizations. The basic challenge is twofold: on the one hand, each city and each nation state must find ways to address the immense problems generated by the new realities of urban growth and change, including uneven development, entrenched social inequalities, widespread environmental degradation and climate change; while at the same time, they must take advantage of new economic, technological and cultural innovations to remain politically stable, socially cohesive and globally competitive.
This paper highlights the global and regional urbanization trends, and its environmental and economic imprints. It primarily relies on relevant peer-reviewed articles, and research and development reports from international institutions. Books authored by experts from diverse fields were also helpful during this review. The study has revealed that the global urban population has grown from an estimated 3% in 1800 to an estimated 54.5% in 2016. Empirical evidence indicates that urban expansion and associated land cover change impacts biodiversity; local, regional and global climate; and, management of wastes. Economically, evidence has been provided to support the poverty reducing effect of cities, role in generation of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the advantages of agglomeration economies. Strong case has emerged that managing urbanization is an important part of nurturing growth. The real challenge, therefore, is for governments to adopt policies that maximize the benefits of urbanization.
Global Urbanization and Political Development of the World System
Section 1 of this article ('Global Urbanization Dynamics: A Quantitative Analysis') presents a mathematical analysis of the long-term global urbanization dynamics and demonstrates that it could be described as a series of phase transitions between attraction basins. This makes it possible to suggest new approaches to the analysis of global social macroevolution.