Tag: Urbanization

Cities Emerging Soft Power: 5 Key Advantages for Improved Global Governance

Tradition vs. modernity in China. Image: 月明 端木/Flickr

This article was originally published by the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) on 27 May 2015.

With the majority of the world’s population already urban, people have voted cities as the place to live. This emerging trend is an outcome of the spread of globalization, which generates economies of scale by clustering economic activities -fueled by technological change, international trade, finance and foreign direct investment- in cities.

Urban congregations are nests that attract opportunities -based on accumulation of resources- and act as recipients of hazardous global challenges -climate change, security, immigration or poverty- alike. However, the unstoppable power of cities is underrepresented at a global scale, where cities still have a limited voice in the architecture of international big decision-making. Against this backdrop, what are the influence and implications of cities as a key actor for global governance? What can they bring to the world? Cities’ differentiated proposition adds a more efficient model -than nation-states- in dealing with matters of relevant global concern that hinge upon the following five advantages.

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Urban Battlegrounds: Dystopian Futures or Complex Realities?

A man in a dark Karachi alley. Image: Ebtesam Ahmed/Flickr

From Kobane and Raqqa to the streets of Mexico City and beyond, cities are increasingly being perceived as urban battlegrounds – places where the world’s next wars will be fought between traditional armies and non-state actors. In this respect, there’s nothing coincidental about the fact that these ‘battlegrounds’ are primarily located in the ‘developing’ world. It’s here where most of the world’s urbanization is taking place. For many, rapid urbanization means living in informal settlements. It also means increased exposure to high rates of crime, violence and limited opportunities for human advancement.

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“The Response Ulrich Beck Would Have Liked to Hear”

Artistic depiction of New York City. Image: Werner Kunz/Flickr

This article was originally published by the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) in the 297th Edition of Opinión on 20 January, 2015.

The death of Ulrich Beck leaves us bereft of that always lucid, special perspective found in each of his articles or in the new publication that arrived on just the day that, for the umpteenth time, we were doubting our own theories or missing someone to lend a hand and help us understand the world. For Beck, as a sociologist, what happened in the world was what happened between people and groups, making “globalised patchwork generations” of their hopes and dreams, their fears, disappointments and frustrations.

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Fragile Cities Rising

Aerial view fo a favela. Photo: Domenico Marchi/Flickr
Favela Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Domenico Marchi/Flickr.

A new social category recently emerged on the security and development landscape–the fragile city. The preoccupation with “fragile” and “failed” cities–at least in military circles–echoes many of the very same anxieties associated with failed and fragile states. Such cities are said to experience ruptures in the social contracts binding governments and citizens and a declining ability to regulate and monopolize legitimate violence across their territories. In extreme cases, municipal governance systems and security apparatus collapse altogether.

The dizzying pace of urbanization in the twenty-first century is believed to exacerbate fragility in large and intermediate cities. The United Nations estimates that the world’s slum population will reach two billion by 2030, accounting for the majority of all future global population growth. A growing cadre of relief and development specialists is also aware how some cities–Ciudad Juárez, Medellín, Karachi, and Tegucigalpa–are synonymous with a new kind of fragility with severe humanitarian implications. While not necessarily affected by armed conflict, these and other urban centers are seized by levels of violence on par with war-torn Abidjan, Benghazi, Damascus, or Mogadishu.

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ISN Weekly Theme: Urbanization

Tokyo skyline at night, photo: Peter Morgan / flickr
Tokyo skyline at night, photo: Peter Morgan / flickr

Mushrooming megacities, migrational pressures, cultural and political collisions and ecosystems and environments under stress- as humans continue to move into cities, we are faced with a new set of challenges that directly impact both domestic policies and international relations. Cities are becoming the microcosms of life in the 21st century where overcrowding, resource scarceness, poverty and migration define the challenges that no country can afford to ignore.

This week the ISN focuses on urbanization and brings you a wide set of resources to delve deep into this highly consequential and topical issue.

  • The ISN Special Report The Future is Urban examines urbanization from the perspective of migration, societal conflict, and environmental politics. In Migration: Politics of Cultural Conflict , Robert A Beauregard places urbanization in a triumvirate of forces, together with globalization and nationalism, that direct contemporary migration flows and feed into political conflicts. In Urbanization: Environmental Problem or Solution? Leiwen Jiang and Karen Hardee examine the environmental impact of urbanization, with a particular focus on population growth and energy consumption in the urban context.
  • In our Policy Briefs section the ODI’s Opportunity and Exploitation in Urban Labour Markets discusses the relation between economic growth and urban poverty reduction.
  • The UN’s paper titled World Urbanization Prospects, found in our Primary Resources, includes interesting projections for urban and rural populations worldwide.
  • In Events, a Chatham House conference on the Future of Cities will examine how rapid urban growth can be planned, managed and financed.