Understanding the Dynamics of Diffuse Cities and Their Impact

III. Diffuse City
- The city lies on the Q field around it, is dynamic and changes. It is said to be a ciudad difusa. Uses and Functions: The functions are established according to needs, developments, polygons, trains... Causes of Diffuse City: Growth is due to the price of land; the inhabitants seek cheaper areas, and this is possible due to private transportation and public infrastructure that help to bring certain rural areas into the city.
Consequences of Diffuse City: The growth of cities has generated some negative consequences:

• High consumption of soil: The expansion of the city has to spend to develop their ground-display, enabling service marks to increase, which raises the infrastructure needs for light, water, and gas.
• Constant mobility: People living in one place and working in another leads to fragmentation of their efforts. This requires many roads and highways, which consume energy.
• Development expenditure of an individualistic social model: The dispersion of activities over such a wide area makes interaction between people more difficult, leading to fewer meeting points.

IV. Environmental Problems

• Ecological Challenges: The city becomes a natural landscape that is exploited and humanized, using natural resources.
• Few Vegetation: If the city grows, the landscape becomes deforested. The lack of forest can alter the temperature and change the weather, affecting rainfall and the supply of water in rivers.
• Scarce Water and Pollution: The availability of drinking water is a problem in many developed countries. Agriculture and excessive domestic use consume water. Another impact in urban areas is pollution in groundwater due to inadequate separation between potable water and waste canalizations.
• High Contamination: In towns, there is also air and noise pollution, making it difficult to treat solid waste.

The Organization of Space
I. Transformation of Urban Space
1. Global Cities:

• Privileged places - headquarters of banks, stock exchanges, and financial markets.
• Production centers for the most innovative activities and advanced services worldwide.
• Control the majority of international trade.

Examples: New York, London, and Tokyo are global cities.
2. Other Urban Spaces of the Global Economy:

• Developed countries: Hong Kong, Paris.
• Underdeveloped countries: Mexico City and São Paulo.

II. Inequalities
Social and Territorial Differences:

• Privileged Areas: People with higher incomes live in private neighborhoods.
• Marginalized Areas: Shanty settlements are generated in the peripheries.
• Central Cities: Gentrification of downtown areas leads to historic buildings becoming hotels, restaurants, and shops, which triggers the price of real estate. Residents tend to leave the area for other neighborhoods.

3. Principal Transformations:

• Need for strong investment from public administrations and private sectors.
• Infrastructure development (airports).
• Telecommunication networks.
• Changes in morphology lead to increased land value.

4. Urban Networks:

• Among all the cities, there are exchanges of people and products.
• These exchanges generate a global urban network where large cities are interconnected.
• Core cities influence the surrounding territory, and large nuclei can have a more global influence.