The Effect of Globalization and Technology on Large Cities Development

Name:
Professor’s Name:
Course:
Date:
Reaction Paper
In the past few decades, the world has witnessed the rise and development of large cities. Some of these cities can exist as autonomous regions of their countries, but still, continue to flourish. Hong Kong, for example, has continued to flourish with its autonomy. These cities embrace the latest architecture, and only those with deep pockets can afford to live in these cities. Cities have become business hubs with people having to travel up to three hours to make it to their areas of work. Countries in Africa and other developing countries continue to invest and to build their cities with the aim of having hubs of their own. Well, many of them are getting into huge debts in the spirit of building modern cities. However, no one seems or appears keen to point out the danger of his or her actions. However, where did the problem begin? Where did the rain start beating the developing countries? While reacting to the four articles provided, this article seeks to show how the development agenda of the world as shown in these articles could be perpetuating poverty and maintaining inequality as the status quo.
The first article titled World City Formation: An Agenda for Research and Action by John Friedmann and Goetz Wolff provides a detailed explanation of cities as world economies. The article helps to tell a story of how certain cities in the world appear to have become major world economies and how their current state warrants the name world economies. At one instance, the two researchers note that “world cities are the control centers of the global economy” further enhancing the idea that these cities are truly shaping the world. The article titled Accumulation and Comparative Urban Systems by John Walton takes a different turn and focuses on frameworks for comparative urban studies. The article notes that no single framework can explain or accurately explain the development of cities in the developing nations. In the end, Walton appears to point to the European nations as the source of the urbanization and underdevelopment problems experienced in the developing nations. However, in the end, he does offer his proposal of what could help alleviate the urbanization and underdevelopment problem currently being experienced in the developing nations.
The third article titled The City as a Landscape of Power: London and New York as Global Financial capitals by Sharon Zukin sheds light on how these two cities continue to grow and compete with each other to capture global markets. This article does seem to agree with John Friedmann and Goetz Wolff’s article that regards these cities as major world economies. However, Zukin does move a step further and analyzes the issues which abound as a result of this competition. These cities have continued to further their private agenda and neglect the public good. As noted earlier, people cannot live in these cities because a majority if not all of them are too expensive and thus push people away while inviting more businesses. The fourth article titled Local and Global: Cities in the Network Society by Castells provides details of how cities have evolved as a result of the influence of technology, globalization, an...