can now be used for potential building development

impediment = obstacle slum
informal sector
overcrowded

overpopulation
sprawling suburbs
high population growth rates inadequate
poverty, precariousness
lack of sanitation
congestion, transport gridlock sewage
water/ power supply
waste collection system
poor access to
a strain on
regulation
unplanned
unregulated
flock to cities
rise to the challenge
worsen
threaten
commute
arise

• Compact city or urban sprawl? 
• Two cities at a glance
• Megacities in the world
• Megacities vs Global cities

Lexique : Megacities Characteristics Challenges/issues Action

Impact Sustainability Countries

Mumbay, London, NYC... Is the multiplication of megacities a threat to sustainability?

Project 1: You are a journalist working for National Geographic. Write a report on how megacities tackle sustainability.

Project 2: You are an American architect. Deliver a speech to help shape a sustainable future for Mumbai.

• La ville de Nairobi et ses différents quartiers (le centre-ville, le bidonville de Kibera) et le phénomène de l’étalement urbain

• Les problématiques de développement urbain en Afrique (l’approvisionnement en eau potable et l’évacuation des eaux usées, l’agriculture urbaine)

• Des initiatives positives pour le développement de Nairobi (Kennedy Odede contre les cartels de l’eau,
la ferme urbaine de Kiroko)

- Le premier texte est un extrait d’une publication du Government Office for Science de 2014 dont le titre est What are future cities? Origins, meanings and uses (WP20) qui explore la façon dont dif- férentes organisations ont interprété les « villes durables ».

- Le deuxième texte, extrait de State of the Planet qui est le site d’information de la Columbia Climate School, a été rédigé par Ste- ven Cohen, un universitaire américain qui enseigne la pratique des affaires publiques à l’Université de Columbia et est directeur du programme de recherche sur la politique et la gestion de la dura- bilité à l’Institut de la Terre de cette même université.

Ces deux documents sont complémentaires dans la mesure où le deuxième illustre de manière concrète une des stratégies qui peut être appliquée pour assurer la capacité d’une ville à accueillir plus de 10 millions d’habitants et que son développement soit viable et pérenne.

Ces deux documents sont complémentaires. Le premier fait partie d’un article du site du journal britannique The Guardian. Il développe un exemple précis de densification de l’espace urbain alors que le deuxième texte, extrait d’une publication de trois chercheurs, présente les enjeux de l’urbanisation de masse aussi bien au niveau économique, social, spatial, environnemental qu’au niveau de l’alimentation.

L’idée est de transférer et d’appliquer aux zones urbaines en expansion les stratégies, solutions, innovations et initiatives qui ont fonctionné dans d’autres mégapoles chaque fois que cela est possible. L’objectif est de « réduire le temps de latence entre les idées et la mise en œuvre dans la résolution des problèmes urbains. »

Ces graphiques montrent l’évolution des plus grandes villes du monde de 1950 à nos jours. D’abord apparue dans les pays haute- ment industrialisés du nord, la croissance de ces mégapoles concerne maintenant les pays du sud, les pays en voie de développement.

1. Focus on the title, the quote and the pie charts. Explain what the pie charts represent.
The pie charts show where the most populated cities were in 1950, 1990 and 2016. In the 1990s, there was a shift south: the number of megacities in the Global South had already increased a lot and represented 42% of all megacities. Till 2016, this number kept increasing and the Global South accounted for 67% of all megacities. To conclude, between 1950 and 2016 the configuration of the world completely changed. Now only 33% of megacities are located in the Global North, that is to say in developed countries.

2. Concentrate on the bar charts. Comment on the evolution of the situation of New York, London and Delhi.
In 1950, New York held the title of most populated city in the world. In 1990 it came third while now it is tenth. On the contrary, New Delhi, which was not even among the ten most populated cities in 1950 or 1990, now comes second and is likely to overtake Tokyo as the most populated city in the world. As for London, it ranked third in the 1950s but was already overtaken by cities from the Global South in 1990, let alone in 2016. The bar charts illustrate the change in the configuration of the world from the 1950s up to now, and show the rapid emergence of megacities in the Global South.

3. Explain what could be an obstacle to the power of megacities of the Global South. Cities from the Global South situated in developing parts of Africa, Latin America and Asia are characterised by their high concentration of population and testify to the expansion of urbanisation. However, they remain places of inequalities and are still not as influential as New York or London which are global cities with political, financial and economic power. Indeed in 1991 a sociologist called Saskia Sassen in The Global City – New York, London, Tokyo distinguished between megacities. Most cities from the Global South do not harbour companies which are networked across the world, are not technologically advanced and have no or very little influence on the world economy.

Besides they suffer from different problems that they still have to tackle: massive urban expansion, informal planning, economic, social and environmental problems, and shortages of resources.

4. Connect. Find elements in the charts justifying Michael Bloomberg’s vision of cities.
Michael Bloomberg who was Mayor of New York form 2002- 2013 said: “Cities have played a more important role in shaping the world than empires.”

New York used to be the largest city in the 1950s and London used to come third. Even if they no longer come first, they still have influence in the world.
Even though New York and London are less populated, they have real economic clout and they can be regarded as soft power superpowers. They have indeed played an important role in shaping the world. Should megacities from the Global South rise to the rank of global cities, the world might very well tip over to the other side, thus shaping a different world.

1. Compare urbanisation before apartheid and after apartheid.
Before apartheid, poor people lived kilometres away from the urban periphery crammed in some sorts of informal settlements, which could be referred to as slums. After apartheid, a huge number of people migrated to the city centres which were however unable to provide decent housing.

2.Concentrate on the choice made by Johannesburg’s metropolitan government. Explain it.
As regards Johannesburg, the metropolitan government decided to focus on some “strategically located” populated areas and develop mass transit in order to link all those places together. Those areas will be upgraded and become denser over time and their inhabitants will benefit from job opportunities and different amenities. Those strategic hotspots will thus become more and more compact and will prevent urban sprawl.

3. Read Let’s focus on... n° 1, p. 192 and show what is at stake in this decision.
This high density urban settlement will mean less energy used and less pollution because everybody will have access to public transport, employment and all sorts of resources or facilities. This city is likely to be more sustainable. Quality of life will be better.

student B: text 2

1. Pick out the advantages and drawbacks of living in a megacity.
Advantages : economic growth and better standards of living/ centralised infrastructures, and government, political, education, social, and health services. (more convenient and prepared foods/ better economic income)

Drawbacks: urban poverty, food and nutrition insecurity, and health disparities (increased risks of deaths from chronic diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and renal failure).

- “more susceptible to natural and human-made disasters (floods, droughts, and pollution).”
- “Climate change will affect food security and water access in areas that are already currently vulnerable (e.g., megacities).” - “rise in peri-urban agriculture, as the urban population demands food from agricultural systems in close proximity to where they live.”

- “peri-urban land for agriculture has to compete with non- farming uses such as housing and regional industry, driving up the prices for land for agriculture in the city fringes.”
- “alternative methods to access fresh produce:” “growth of urban agriculture” (ex.: “urban orchards in streets tended to by neighborhood communities, vertical farming on buildings, and rooftop gardens.”)

- “urban orchards in streets tended to by neighborhood communities, vertical farming on buildings, and rooftop gardens.”

4. Connect. Use both texts to debate what is to be done to make fast-growing megacities sustainable liveable places. Toute production cohérente qui prendra en compte le modèle de développement qui s’inscrira dans un développement durable, qui rendra compte des avantages mais aussi des inconvénients de ces villes et des différentes menaces auxquelles elles sont confrontées, et enfin des innovations qui permettront de répondre aux choix de vie et besoins des habitants.

c. Le suffixe -ly est un suffixe faible, il ne modifie pas l’accent de mot.
d. It is the perfect example of a flourishing economy, as this 70-storey structure will include 46 floors of residential apartments, 11 floors of office space, a five-storey mall and four floors of underground parking. It will also be home to a new 45-storey Hilton Hotel.

In pleasing contrast to the crowded oriental sections are the open spaces of the European areas with wide splendidly paved boulevards, tree- shaded avenues and modern buildings. Paralleling the harbour is [Carnot] Road, one of the finest drives in the city and comparable to any similar thoroughfare in Europe. At the edge of Raffles Plain and funding eastward to the sea stands the imposing Cenotaph, silent memorial to Singapore’s World War dead. Overlooking The Plain is the Victoria Memorial Hall and nearby the stately municipal building, one of Singapore’s newest constructions. Adjacent is St. George’s Anglican Cathedral also facing The Plain. All parts of the city are served and connected by well-paved roads, convenient arteries for those who live in the suburbs or in the beautiful residential section of Tanglin. The governor’s mansion stands upon a hill commanding an unobstructed view of the entire city. Unpretentious, yet spacious and comfortable, are many of the homes built in an old architectural style, with great open arcaded verandas serving as living rooms in this tropical city. Social life in this thriving Crown colony is always full and varied with garden parties, dinners, races, sports meetings and dozens of other activities. A gathering place is Raffles Hotel, one of the most renowned hotels raised in the East. At Tiffin Time, the midday meal hour, the veranda of this well-known rendezvous is

 

Unit 11 “Cultivate your city”

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