World cities

Objectives: To identify and locate the world’s largest cities. To understand the reasons why some cities have grown so rapidly. To look at the concept of a ‘world city’

Match up the correct definitions: Millionaire city Mega city World city Metropolitan area with a total population in excess of 10 million. The density is normally over 2 000 persons/km². It can be made up of two or more metropolitan areas that converge upon one another. A city that acts as a major centre for finance, trade, business, politics, culture, science, publishing and all associated activities – serving not just a country or region. A city with over a million inhabitants.

The world’s largest cities (2008) Tokyo-Yokohama New York London Seoul-Incheon Jakarta Moscow Mumbai Sao Paulo Paris Beijing Mexico City Delhi Chicago Shanghai Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto Manila Madrid Dhaka Buenos Aires Nairobi Which do you think are the 10 most populated cities? Can you put the 10 in rank order?

The world’s largest cities (2008) Tokyo-Yokohama 34.4 (million) New York 20.3 Seoul-Incheon 20.1 Jakarta 19.9 Mumbai 19.4 Sao Paulo 19.1 Mexico City 18.4 Delhi 17.6 Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto 17.2 Manila 17.0

Distribution of the world’s largest cities Onto your world map, label the 10 largest cities.

The world’s largest cities (2008) Tokyo-Yokohama 34.4 (million) New York 20.3 Seoul-Incheon 20.1 Jakarta 19.9 Mumbai 19.4 Sao Paulo 19.1 Mexico City 18.4 Delhi 17.6 Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto 17.2 Manila 17.0 Japan USA South Korea Indonesia India Brazil Mexico Philippines What is the ratio of MEDC/LEDC?

Describe the distribution of the 10 largest cities using your world map.

How has this changed since the 1960’s?

Until the middle of the 20th Century the biggest cities were in the most developed countries. New York and London were the world’s biggest cities. However since 1950 many cities in developing countries have joined them due to high natural increase and rural-urban migration.

What does the map show?

Oman Niger Ethiopia

Sweden Libya Saudi Arabia

The most urbanised continents are Europe, North America, South America and Oceania. Urbanisation is increasing most rapidly in Africa and Asia.

The causes of urban growth Natural population growth There tends to be more young people in cities as it is the young that are most likely to migrate from rural areas. They then have children meaning the rates of natural increase are higher in cities. 2. Rural-urban migration This is divided into push and pull factors.

PUSH From rural

Wars and civil strike cause people to flee Natural disasters – floods, tropical storms, earthquakes.. Population growth – not enough land to support the people. Leads to over-farming and low yields PUSH From rural Cash crops – land traditionally used to grow food for locals now used to produce crops for money. Agricultural problems – due to desertification, subdivision of land into smaller plots and debt on loans taken out to help pay for agricultural change. Health - Local diseases and inadequate medical provision.

PULL to urban

A perceived better quality of life Employment- in factories and service industries such as hotels – better paid than rural area jobs. PULL to urban Better quality social provisions – education, healthcare, entertainment…. Informal employment – selling on the street, providing transport eg. rickshaw, prostitution.

World cities There has been an economic shift from in advanced economies from goods production to information handling. Globalisation has led to manufacturing shifting from traditional centres such as Manchester to lower wage economies eg. China

World cities: World cities are identified as places of innovation and entrepreneurialism. Are part of a network of learning consisting of clusters of universities, company research bases and so on. They may be seen as ‘science cities’ or ‘creative hubs’. Tend to have shed a lot of their routine activities to other countries. Offer a wide range of jobs – but mainly at either the top end or low end – this leads to increased differentiation in types of residential areas within these cities.

Europe In Western Europe, London is the only indisputable world city. Paris perhaps also qualifies. Below them are national capital cities and a number of specialised cities eg. Milan, Stuttgart, Manchester. These are called sub-world cities. Within Europe high-speed train and air travel has developed to allow convenient face-to-face contact. These important centres have shown dynamism in adapting to the loss of traditional manufacturing and goods-handling.