Urban Structure in Modern Society

urban Structure in Modern SocietyHow Should a Modern, Globalized Society Adapt Its Urban Structure? A Comparison of Four TextsGlobalization, much like the Industrial Revolution that propelled Europe and North America to the forefront of the global economic stage, has forced the redevelopment and giving medication of urban hubs. Some, like Moulaert and Waley, support government-led initiatives addressing the problem of the economic disparities among social classes caused by the redefinition of labor securities industrys. Others, including Logan and Swanstrom, argue against centrally-planned economies and markets, positing that cities should not work outside the boundaries of their national context. Scholars like Haila, on the other hand, present a married political ideology combining the cardinal, arguing that while differences in cities may exist, legitimate estate and private enthronement is the common link binding all global cities.With globalization overtaking the norms of fa miliar market economies, contemporary urban hubs face persistent high levels of unemployment, deficit of job opportunities, homelessness, deteriorating housing and living conditions, widening income gaps, and social violence these problems have become an integral part of the new urban context, regardless of prevailing dynamics of economic ontogenesis or decline1. Consequently, Moulaert and his contemporaries suggest government-mandated interventions are necessary, including the coerced transformation of labor markets. According to Moulaert, the transformation of employment is, doubtless, the key axis of urban socio-economic restructuring and the primary operator shaping increase inequality and social fragmentation in cities2. Logan and Swanstrom concur, but question the extent to which the government ought to be able to inject in the restructuring of society. They question what form these interventions should take, as reform in the East is a synonym for raising prices, reducing some types of consumption, and accepting structural unemployment the Communist-type also-ran of urban restructuring (and central planning) is therefore representative of a political and economic event, avoidable through the careful, monitored endorsement of free market economies3. Waley, like Moulaert and his contemporaries, supports a stop of government intervention in urban restructuring and cites the Japanese post-war example. Waley suggests Japans success in urban restructuring can be attributed to reorganizing urban space in pursuit of economic ontogeny, which entailed national relaxation of zoning, disposal of public land, and measures advantageous to private landowners vis--vis the strategies outlined by Haila which will be examined later4. The government, Waley argues, is the greatest facilitator of economic issue through its power to enact policies contrary to the Communist model, however, Waleys proposition is one of incentive to the private sector.Logan and Swanstrom directly oppose governmental intervention back up by Moulaert and (to a degree) Waley, specifying that policy cures and the measure of urban restructuring in an ailing economy are better prescribed at the national level the two stress that cities cannot be abstracted from their national context5. Logan and Swanstroms position endorse Waleys admonitions to avoid the dangers of a simplistic cultural-determinist response to the necessity of urban restructuring6. On the other hand, Moulaert concedes the fallibility of his model, surmising that government intervention can be detrimental to a point as federal programs are a de occurrenceo means of increasing the concentration of deprivation in particular urban areas and neighborhoods, reproducing the formation of excluded communities, reproduced by the very initiatives that purportedly aim at eradicating them7. Haila echoes the power of public perception, claiming that the aforementioned factor drives the model of private real estate-p owered economies. Pointing out the paradigm shift of Japanese investment in Los Angeles from the 1980s to the 1990s, Haila notes that urban development can be catalyzed or snuffed by a change in public perception after all, in the 1980s, Los Angeles was a city favored by Japanese investors, but the 1992 accelerate riots changed this situation, as a property market where an asset can be demolished in one night is not a good market8. While Haila does not prescribe uniformity in the application of economic and urban restructuring, she endorses the facet that all cities which aim to restructure themselves into global cities have real estate in common, echoing Waleys sentiments regarding Japanese investment in Los Angeles. Private land ownership lends to the environment necessary for economic rehabilitation per globalization. Cities in that affect cities the price falls and gains from one city inevitably affect another9.While Logan and Swanstrom support the contention that restructuring carries significant social and political institutions in its wake10, their views are most applicable to the current global economy due to their calls for uniformity and consistence on a national level. Tied to Hailas theory of inter-dependent cities, Logan and Swanstroms model prevents the cannibalization of intra-national markets. Moreover, Logan and Swanstrom advocate a laissez-faire attitude within the confines of a national agenda, therein tempering the so-called free market. Moulaerts humor that global restructuring entails urban development projects, his advocacy for government intervention, finds fault along the lines of market restriction. The workings of bureaucracy prevent the intervention of the individuals Haila perceives as vital to the growth of an economy through land ownership. Though they can be tempered by applicant law and a statute, truncating the involvement of the private sector limits growth and future adaptations to a globalizing world economy where punctua lity can mean the difference between prosperity and recession. Waley may concede restructured Tokyos contrariety between the living conditions of the poor and the profit expansions of business corporations, but in his assertions he glosses over the states possible use of higher tax income revenues to revive the lower classes, thus leaving the question of self-propagating poverty and economic stagnation unanswered11. Perhaps most important to note is the necessity of policy fluidness in the degree of laissez-faire economics and governmental intervention. While all four works prescribed a degree of flexibility, none presented the simple fact that globalization, as a new world market and concept, cannot be approached using a template or a macroeconomic stencil of some sort. allowance in the urban sector, like all forms of adaptation, cannot be expected to work within the stricture of obstinate thought.BIBLIOGRAPHYHaila, A. (1997) The Neglected Builder of Global Cities. In Cities in Transformation Transformation in Cities Social and Symbolic Change of Urban Space, pp. 51 64. London Ashgate P.Logan, John R and Todd Swanstrom. (1990) Urban Restructuring A Critical View. In Beyond the City Limits Urban Policy and Economic restructuring in Comparative Perspective, pp. 3-24. sore York Temple U P.Moulaert, Frank et al. (2003) Urban Restructuring, Social-Political Polarization and New Urban Policies. In The Globalized City Economic Restructuring and Social Polarization in European Cities, pp. 29-45. Oxford Oxford U P.Waley, P. (2000) Tokyo Patterns of Familiarity and Partitions of Difference. In Globalizing Cities A New Spatial Order?, pp. 127-157. New York Blackwell Publishers.Footnotes1 Moulaert et al 2003, p. 302 Moulaert et al 2003, p. 313 Logan and Swanstrom 1990, p. 44 Waley 2000, p.1395 Logan and Swanstrom 1990, p. 66 Waley 2000, p. 1287 Moulaert et al 2003, p. 328 Haila 1997, p. 569 Haila 1997, p. 5210 Logan and Swanstrom 1990, p. 1211 Waley 200, p. 141