Urban Transformation: Global Cities and Dispersed Areas

Urban Space Transformation

From the end of the twentieth century, global cities have transformed urban space. Global cities are privileged places where major banks, stock markets, and financial production centers are concentrated. They are the most advanced services at a global level. They control capital, information technology, and all needed products.

New York, London, and Tokyo are indisputable centers of the global economy, representing global cities.

Other Global Economic Centers

Other important centers include Hong Kong, Osaka, Frankfurt, Paris, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Milan. Less developed cities use similar functions, e.g., Mexico City.

Transformations in Large Cities

To accommodate growth, large cities have been transformed, involving many public and private investments. The result was the construction of new transport infrastructures: airports, highways, railroads, and high-speed urban trains. Telecommunications networks were also improved and made faster.

Megacities as Global Nodes

Megacities are nodes in the global economy and powerful nations. It is where higher functions of global direction, production, political power, etc., are concentrated.

Social and Territorial Differences

The phenomenon of globalization favors cities over other areas. New areas of the city are the best places for houses, organized with private luxury residential areas and malls. Marginalized areas are the periphery of cities in less developed countries; a large part of the population lives in these areas.

The Dispersed City: Rural-Urban Boundaries

The metropolitan area at the boundary between city limits is not a defined line. It is a very dynamic area, often called the diffuse city, peri-urban fringe, or rururban area.

Features

Actions on the territory of the dispersed city are organized according to the diffuse needs of the metropolis.

Causes

The growth of the dispersed city is due to the high price of land in the city, thanks to private development and the development of transport. Increased road infrastructure provides closer access to centers from rural areas.

Repercussions

• Very high land consumption: expansion of the city.
• Increased service needs: infrastructure and increased need for public services.
• Constant Mobility: People live and work in different places, requiring many highways. This consumes significant energy and time.
• Development of a more individualistic social model: due to the dispersion of activities across a territory.

New Urban Spaces

The dispersed city organizes a diffuse redistribution of space, and industrial activities move away from the city.

Thanks to the construction of new highways and the expansion of existing ones, there have been sharp advances in telecommunications.