Urban Area
Globalization has created a profound impact on society. Through globalization, emerging markets continue to grow and develop. New and innovative products are created that provide solutions to societal problems. As such, wealth is created that is distributed to nations that provide services to humanity. As wealth is distributed, urban areas are created and cultivated. These cities, over time, become populated with the new inhabitants, and continue to thrive. The development of cities and urban areas correlates directly with economic growth and development. With an economic system that continues to innovate, produce product and provide jobs, urban areas cannot be properly developed. The documentary, Urbanized is a testament to the merits of a market economy and how the city of the future may be fundamentally different from the city of today (Kolb, 1972).
To begin Urbanized provides enlightening insights into which the colonies or social formations, in which we arrange, support our daily activities. Cities are a mixture of deliberate design, accident, history, geography, and countless small collective decisions by the citizens that impose themselves. The documentary provides an example in which pedestrians in a park will walk, logically where they think a path should be, irrespective of a path actually being placed in that position or not. The documentary further argues that the most disastrous city planning decisions have been marred by the grandiosity of the planners. The film provides the example of Brasilia, which is arguable one of the worst areas to live, however, had the most extensive planning (Taylor, 2007).
Interesting enough is the extensive amount of collaboration needed to form a city or urban...
In many instances, as the documentary illustrates, one individual is rarely responsible for the planning of a city. Instead, multiple stakeholders are used to provide cohesion and consensus regarding overall planning decisions. The documentary mentions Venice as an example of an urban area that did not succumb to the grandiose nature of planning. As the documentary indicates, Venice grew up island by island, structure by structure, in a shallow lagoon, with no coherent planning at all. Now many consider Venice one of the world's foremost urban areas.
An interesting concept presented in the documentary was the notion that a city develops organically, through the complex interplay of economics, biology and countless local, individual decisions. However, planning on the part of architects, engineers and politicians also plays a major role in the development of an urban area. Economic circumstances are vital to urban development. For one, economic development provides both the incentive and financial resources by which an urban area can grow. As indicated by the documentary, a variety of stakeholders are generally consulted in regards to the development of an urban. These stakeholders can include city officials, politicians, the general public, stockholders, municipalities, and more. Due to massive amount of collaboration needed, economic conditions must be ripe for development. Infrastructure, contrary to popular belief, is not free. Debt is often raised to finance the expansion and development of urban areas. Without a thriving economic environment investors and stakeholders alike can not contribute to the growth of urban areas. Therefore, in order for the convoluted interplay of stakeholders to exist, a thriving and robust…
