Sydney City Limits

For those only weakly committed to city living, particularly middle-class people who have serious difficulty with social diversity and who have clear housing alternatives, the "problem-free" suburbs become tempting. After an incident such as a car break-in or a bicycle theft, a "last straw" can make them leave. (249)

Segregation in cities has been an issue ever since the beginning of time. People have always liked to put themselves in boxes, and divide people up by seemingly arbitrary concepts. Some of these divisions happen due to more physical traits, with the most prominent example being segregation based on racial differences, with certain ethnicities being concentrated in certain areas of the city. In a more modern setting, this can be seen in inner cities areas considered to be ‘black neighborhoods’, due to the large african american population.

As cities urbanize there is a flowing system of uncertainty and mobility limiting practices. A system where, where people “belong” at any given time is fluid and ever changing or completely static. For members of lower socioeconomic class this mobility or static state is progressive and out of their control. This lack of control over their home results in displacement and ethnic enclaves. People higher on the socioeconomic ladder choose to leave their old homes and force people lower on the socioeconomic ladder to leave theirs to cluster in one area. A city can be a cluster and seen as undesirable one year then a trend is sparked and that city suddenly becomes to new frontier. Many factors play a role in why this fluidity or static state is

However our cities have developed clear divisions of spatial separation significantly attributable to individual wealth (Baum, Haynes and van Gellecum 1557; Beer and Forster 9). Smets and Salman recognise this as a global phenomenon and propose a causal link to globalisation “deepening… the clefts between urban populations and the urban districts they inhabit” (1307). They go on to note that these rifts are “often connected to social cleavages” (Smets and Salman

In order to add value to a city and fix any mistakes regarding a decline in the quality of living, different forms of development must be consistently undertaken for example civic improvement, slum clearance, urban renewal, urban consolidation, regeneration, brownfields and waterfront development (Freestone R., 2010). Due to ignoring the issues of urban expansion until the mid-twentieth century, cities have consequently been forced to transform and redevelop dramatically. Part of this process as seen in Sydney in 1836 was understood as the most fundamental action in the ‘civic development’ of the city (Freestone R., 2010). The plan involved the relocation of the Government House, re-development of Circular Quay, connection of the city street

Ultimately, each of the three reviewed texts present how the implementation of urban planning shaped the fabric of our cities over time, and how urban reform itself has been heavily driven by the desire to improve the well being of inhabitants and maximise the advantages of urban concentration. Dr. Richardson’s text demonstrates the key role of sanitary reform in shaping city planning and its concepts in the late 1800s from a medical perspective, while Edward Glaeser presents a financially focused appreciation of how the economic benefits of concentrated urban living have been sustained by good urban planning in New York. Finally, Robert Freestone’s historical presentation of case studies involving Australian cities illustrates how urban renewal

Cities have followed different models of social integration since the 19 century: some are now more diverse, and some are more uniform. From this longer perspective, can you describe the differences in their spatial models? can you identify whether space has had structural consequences, and for whom?

For the unsuspecting visitor to New York City, the notion of standing under the shadow of looming skyscrapers, thrust into the pandemonium and din of the walkways, overwhelms and shocks. Yet, for those more accustomed to city life, the disorder becomes normal, relegated to the everyday challenges of modern life. Rarely in our busy and all too public lives do we take the time to recognize that city life has all but removed any semblance of the natural world from our lives.

Neil Smith’s argument of gentrification as a global strategy looks at two different arguments based on the shift from an urban scale defined according to the conditions of social reproduction to one in which the investment of productive capital holds definitive precedence. Richard Florida’s arguement is based on the concept of a new “Creative Class” that has developed and is continuing to develop due to powerful and significant shifts in values, norms and attitudes, of which he catagorizes along three basic lines, that of individuality, meritocracy, and diversity. On a basic level, both believe that theories of neo-urbanism have to shift to adapt to new models based on changes they have seen. Smith’s first argument deals with this observation. In the argument, he challenges the assumption that global cities should be defined according to command functions rather than by their participation in the global production of surplus value due to his belief that this latent viewpoint stems from Eurocentrism. His defending argument to his theory is that contrary to this Eurocentric belief, his observations have shown that as the neoliberal state develops it moves from a position of regulation within the market to a masterful agent of the market. With this shift, Smith hypotisizes that liberal urban policy in cities are replaced with a new model of revanchist urbanism; this, in turn, expresses the vagarious shift to capitalist production rather than social reproduction. In a similarly

The lifestyle of the city is presumably produced due to all the productive work to be done. It offers jobs that will help pay the bills, aid in making a name for oneself, or helping individuals find security in their work that allows them to enjoy the fruit of their labor. The city at its core generates so much energy that people say they have to leave it in order to find rest or inner peace and talk about agrarian life or vacations as moments to rest. But the are draw back to the city is always prevalent as it promotes its ability to sustain and improve life. It seems that his is where the real work is done. Although the city is promoted as the epicenter of progress and security, its organization promotes injustice and preys upon the vulnerable.

In a book ‘The Uses of Sidewalks: Safety’, by Jane Jacobs, she abstract that ‘her basic notions of what makes a neighbourhood a community and what makes a city livable’ . She stated that ‘Great Cities are not like towns, only larger. They are not like suburbs, only denser’ . In her perspective of view, the great cities are differ from towns and suburbs in basic ways, they are full of stranger. Strangers are not only common in a public assembly, it even more common

When examining equity and equality in a fragmented municipal structure, serious concerns can be raised in regards to inequalities to income, economic opportunity and quality of life (L.G.C, pg. 161). It is sadly ironic that suburb residents avoid the social costs of the inner city, but yet, the inner city residents are subsidizing the expensive projects in the suburbs like infrastructure and water/sewer lines (L.G.C, pg. 161).

The process of people moving into cities, which is called urbanisation, was happening around the world in past decades. It causes cities to have more labourers and resources than before. This makes a big contribution to the social development of cities. Thanks to these social developments, public services are becoming better in these areas. Citizens can enjoy a better life by access these public services such as better medical care, more education resources and well-built transport. It means an equitable society can be created. An equitable society means citizens can have more opportunities to access social resources and to live a better life. This essay will argue that

What is the ‘right to the city’? What are the major challenges in creating more socially equitable cities in the 21st century?

With an increase in urbanization, more people are moving to the industrial cities in pursuit of alternative lifestyle and jobs. Life in city and suburbs can be compared and contrasted with various aspects in mind since they share quite some details in as much as they are vastly different. Firstly, the transportation is more accessible in the city as compared to the suburb where there are no apt transport networks as compared to the city, among the transport mode in the city are subways, busses, trams and ferries. These provide easy, fast and cheap means of getting around in the city in as much as the streets are crowded. This is in contrast to the suburbs since owning a car is mandatory since such public transport systems are not available. When the costs of insurance, fuel expenses and time of commuting are added up then transport in suburbs is seen to be expensive when compared to that in the city. The easy transport in the city does not come all rosy since the city is also flooded with traffic jams due to congestion and this can render transport slow. This is contrast with suburb life where there is no traffic and hence with no congestion traveling in suburbs is more peaceful (Boulter, 2005).