Urban Economy, Global Cities, and Population Dynamics

Globalizing Cities and Population Shifts

The Transformation of Urban Economies

The late twentieth century witnessed a significant transformation in the urban economy, leading to the emergence of global cities. These cities, such as New York and Tokyo, are privileged sites due to their focus on international exchanges and production centers.

Urban Transformations

Global cities adapt to new global functions through the construction of new infrastructures, including transport and telecommunications networks. This often leads to strong price rises. Megacities are simple territorial agglomerations of human beings, characterized by social and regional differences.

• Privileged Areas: Inhabited by people with higher incomes.
• Marginalized Areas: Often found in cities of underdeveloped countries, with pockets of exclusion.
• Central City: Sometimes recovers historic spaces, offering unique or new services, leading to increased prices in certain neighborhoods.

Metropolitan Areas and Dispersed Cities

The metropolitan area represents the boundary between town and country, though not a defined line. The dispersed city is characterized by actions organized according to the needs of the metropolis. Growth is primarily driven by high prices in the big city and the increase in private transport infrastructure. Without proper planning, this can lead to:

• Very high consumption of land.
• Increased service demands.
• Constant mobility requirements.
• Development of a more individualistic social model.

New Economic Spaces

Industrial activities have moved outside the city, giving rise to new economic activities such as technology parks and shopping areas.

Relocation of Industrial Activity

In the mid-1980s, many traditional industries that had been located in the central city for years began to disconnect and relocate to the periphery.

Technological Parks

The location of high-technology industries has boosted the existence of innovation sites called technology parks. These locations concentrate companies and sectors with greater capacity for innovation, good accessibility, and environmental quality.

Commercial Centers

Large complexes that are a mixture of business and leisure spaces, offering closed, safe, and controlled areas.

Population Dynamics: Birth, Death, and Migration

Birth and Fertility Rates

• Birth: The total number of children born in a specific area.
• Birth Rate: The number of births associated with the population of a territory.
• Fertility Rate: The number of births associated with the female population of childbearing age (15-49 years).

Mortality and Life Expectancy

• Mortality: Indicates the total number of people who die in a place.
• Mortality Rate: The number of people who have died among the total population of a site.
• Infant Mortality Rate: The number of children related deaths.
• Life Expectancy: In Spain, approximately 77 years for men and 83 years for women.

Migration and Population Pyramids

• Migration: Population displacement.
• Population Pyramid: A graphical representation of the population in a particular place, based on sex and age.

Components of a Population Pyramid

• Vertical Axis: Age groups divided into 5-year intervals.
• Horizontal Axis: Constructed using post data values.
• Parts of the Pyramid: The base, the trunk, and the peak.

Migrant Classifications

Migrants can be classified by:

• Training (qualified, without training).
• Working status (legalized, refugees, undocumented).
• Type of displacement (national, international).

Migration Patterns

Migrations from south to north and east to west are driven by the desire for better jobs and income. For example, many people migrate from the African continent to Europe to improve their living conditions. Some risk their lives to get here, often arriving in rafts.

Some migrants arrive with proper documentation, while others are undocumented and may struggle to find work, often ending up in the primary sector due to a lack of education and legal status.