The Triumph Of Cities By Edward Glaeser Essay

The United States of America experienced a nearly one percent population growth rate in 2014 (Lafayette Parish, Louisiana). This growth rate is higher in comparison to Britain, France, and other first world countries. To many, this statement is not surprising. There is always an exaggerated news story about the increasing number of people immigrating to America and how it affects the country. Each woman in America is replacing herself and her spouse by giving birth to an average of nearly two babies in her lifetime (Louisiana). As America grows, more and more people migrate to cities because, generally, living in a city provides an easier life. Cities have plentiful jobs, more housing, and a multitude of places to shop and to eat. Cities also

INTRODUCTION SENTENCE. Edward Glaeser is a Professor of Economics at Harvard University and a journalist for Bloomberg View, therefore he is well versed in the economics of cities, innovation, crime and more. In his widely known published book, "Triumph of the City: How our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier", he illustrates that cities have made civilization more successful with new technology and ideas. In the first chapter of his book, he explains how cities were created through sharing new ideas and technologies between intellectuals, especially when living within close proximities of other innovators, thereupon those within the innovative networks have built institutions to provide an education system to create more alike, and as a result of these key components, cities have helped and will continue to help the world thrive.

Sidewalks and streets, the major areas of transportation in any city, determines many characteristics of a city such as whether people feel safe or not walking alone at night. If the streets aren’t safe, if there is a murder late at night, people will avoid walking in that area, causing the streets to become even more unsafe. One important lesson my parents have always impressed on me is that when I am walking at night in the city, always stick with the crowded streets in the main vein of the city, never the alleyways or the shortcuts. Jane Jacobs elaborates on this particular lesson in “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” by stating that while a heavier population does not necessarily mean that a street is safer (as evidenced by the Christmas tree

The city of Venice has a long enriched history that deals with a lot of the basic planning and development issues that have been discussed in our readings and in lectures. While one of the biggest factors in the city’s development is the topography, Venice shows a different factor in how a city can be planned. As discussed in much of the material provided by Ackroyd, the planning and development of Venice featured a heavily intense economic segregation. With the exploitation of their location in the world, Venice became a key part of the worlds trade routes. Many view Venice as one of the forerunners to the modern day Capitalistic economy due to the way that they planned and developed their states infrastructure. By analyzing the content provided we are able to make a clearer understanding on how the city grew and become what it is today.

As the world’s population is booming, it requires for more cities to be developed and to grow in order to meet the needs of the population. Megacities are cities in which the population have surpassed 10 million, such as Buenos Aires. During the English Industrial Revolution, Manchester was an important city like Buenos Aires. Their population were able to grow fast because of technology and citizens leaving their rural effect, but these changes harmed society.

London and New York, are two of the top world cities. They play a major influence in the global economic system, because of their position in the world system of finance and trade (Macionis and Parrillo 2013, 8). London is a huge metropolis, with a heavily populated center and adjacent communities which has a high degree of economic and social integration (Macionis and Parrillo 2013, 6) London dominates southern England and covers over 600 square miles, more than 8 million citizens and thirty bridges today. New York is a megalopolis, which is when two or more major metropolitan areas extend and intermingle to form a continuous urban complex (Macionis and Parrillo 2013, 6). Today

Metropolitan areas are shaping the international economy, but the problem is that there are many disruptive forces creating inequality among many metropolitan areas. In 2016, 86% of people live in metropolitan areas making opportunity very concentrated in these areas causing poverty to become common in rural areas. More and more people move to cities because technology is slowly taking over jobs and transforming the economic landscape. Not only has technology made jobs less labor intensive, but it is also causing inequality in cities. The top ten metropolitan areas cover more than half of all the tech sector job growth. This rapid digitalization is changing the demand for skills making workers who know

Life. The most colossal rollercoaster of them all. An ecstasy of blessings. That is, if one chooses for it to be. All humans are given a place in this world, having no choice of the certain circumstances one might enter. In this century, France can be viewed as a luxurious travel destination, a place to gnaw on large bagettes whilst watching the Eiffel Tower dazzle in the dusk sky. Though, rewind the clock to nearly 250 years ago, and the lavish country was undergoing complete and utter turmoil, led by vicious upheaval and outrage. Ingeniously written by Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities takes place during this disastrous time. However, despite the intense violence during this historical time frame, Dickens is able to beautifully incorporate

The world as we know it is experiencing an unprecedented shift for the first time witnessed in human history. It wasn’t even 100 years ago that the world was still overwhelmingly rural with global urban population rates around 10%. Fast forward to 2015, now accounting for roughly around 53% of the worlds population living in cities and is projected to rise to around 67% by 2050.1 The comparative analysis sets out to understand the opportunities and challenges among the North American megacity New York and the Asian megacity of Beijing. The metropolitan area of both New York and Beijing consist of a population each over 10 million people, which generally defines as a megacity. A “megacity” can also be coined as world city, global city, megalopolis, metropolis, conurbation, and agglomeration. Megacities such as New York and Beijing are comprised of a central core, surrounded by satellite cities within daily commuting distances, separated by greenspace. Thus, urban agglomerations can be numerous cities and towns when they are linked by the flows of people, goods, and information, as long as the aggregate population exceeds 10 million.2

“World cities are the control centres of the global economy. Their status, of course, is evolving in the measure that given regions are integrated in a dominant role with the world system. And like the golden cities of ancient empires, they draw into themselves the wealth of the world that is ruled by them. They become the major points for the accumulation of capital and "all that money can buy." They are luxurious, splendid cities whose very splendour obscures the poverty on which their wealth is based. The juxtaposition is not merely spatial; it is a functional relation: rich and poor define each other.”

Competition for residents has increased substantially among cities. This is in part because of globalization and technology. Society now has the choice of living in one place and working in another because of the Internet, laptops, home offices, and wireless connections. Living in one place but working for an employer in another state, city, or country is no longer an idea but a reality. Living in one particular city if you want to succeed in a certain industry still exists, but is starting to erode. People now have the option of being able to do business anywhere in the world and can decide what is best location wise to provide them with the most benefits. Cities are also giving way to foreign manufacturing and can no longer bank on their traditional industries as a means to keep them alive. To combat this, they need to brand themselves as good places to live, where a diverse range of technology, industry, retail, and other attractions can thrive. For many cities, this could be their last

Worldwide urbanization is the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas. The number of people making this change is growing every year. “Globally, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas, with 54% of the world’s population residing in urban areas in 2014. In 1950, 30% of the world’s population was urban, and by 2050, 66% of the world’s population is projected to be urban” (Worldwide Urbanization Prospects, pg. 1). When looking at the rapid growth among people trying to move to a more urban environment, it’s interesting to break it down into regions and take a closer look at what specific

Cities despite its obvious necessity, have not been put under the microscope of IR for long, it only have been surfacing in the world of international relations in 1991 due to the book by Saskia Sassen entitled The Global

However, despite the huge benefits of the growth and development of megacities across the world, most urbanists and economists have realized that, there is persistent overpopulation and poverty in most Asia, Africa and Latin America countries. This has incapacitated the urbanization efforts and strengths of most countries. Kaplan (2012) points out that, most megacities across the globe face

Over half of the world population is living in urban environments and projections for the next 30 years predict that the majority of population growth will be taking place in cities in the developing world. While more mega-cities, meaning cities larger than ten million, have been on the rise, still a majority of people who live in urban environments are living in smaller agglomerations. With an expectation of urban-growth and globalization to continue to increase in the future, it’s essential to understand the ways in which the development of labor and capital have an impact on urban life. There is substantial debate over what affects the growth of cities and who this occurs. There is substantial debate over how cities grow, and what primarily affects and determines their growth, especially in developing countries. I will aim to analyze the different arguments regarding the factors affecting the growth prospects of cities and regions in the developing world. I will first discuss the literature of economic geography. Next, I will evaluate the “global cities” literature. I will then compare the strengths and weakness of these two perspectives. Afterwards I will emphasize why both perspectives offering convincing arguments, though neither offers a complete explanation to understand factors affecting economic growth.