SOC 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Global City, Urban Renewal, White Flight

• School: College of The Sequoias
• Department: Sociology (SOC)
• Course: SOC 001
• Professor: basham

Document Summary

As globalization spread economic activities around the world (factories and markets), there is a need for centralized command and control . Key cities like new york or london become the places for corporate and financial headquarters. Paradoxically, as economy spreads there is concurrent centralization of these specialized activities (banking, insurance, etc. ) Polarization in global cities: both wealth and poverty. Paradox: locus of economic dynamism and great inequality. Cities are places where social problems are concentrated. Poverty, unemployment, racial inequality, pollution, crime, etc. But a few spatial issues related to us urbanization should be highlighted. Key part of the historic dynamic in us: white flight from central cities (including. Leads to 1) loss of farmland/open space, 2) long commutes (with ecological consequences) and 3) job loss and rise of underclass in central cities. Job/residence mismatch poor minorities trapped in central cities where there. Urban disinvestment federal abandonment of cities no political urgency for helping these places is little work for them.