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  3. Megacities

In its simplest definition, a megacity is an urban agglomeration that is home to at least ten million people. In 1950 the world counted just two - New York and Tokyo - with only Mexico City joining their ranks in the following 25 years. Today, there are 40 megacities around the world and that number is expected to surge in the years to come.<br><br>Megacities flourish as nodes in a vast urban network that links critical segments of a globalized economy. Driven by the forces of industrialization, the rise of megacities has not occurred by happenstance, but because political geography has favoured specific locations. In an age of migration, in which people have moved from farmland into cities, uneven patterns of urban growth have produced hyper-agglomerations that offer unique challenges and opportunities to their hinterlands and national economies.<br><br>This series examines the political and economic development of these megacities. Each title interrogates a specific megacity's form and development and explores how and why they have evolved and how policy decisions, couched in geopolitics, have shaped their outcomes. At the core of the series are paradigmatic volumes on mature megacities in the developed world - Paris and New York - that serve as models for understanding emerging megacities, such as Mumbai, Shanghai, Mexico City and others. The books address the relative state of convergence or divergence between mature and emerging megacities, as well as their comparative positions in a global hierarchy and as drivers of economic growth, demographic change and consumption. Each book evaluates the spatial distribution of a megacity's assets (international centres, financial districts, political and decision-making cores), its development, its distribution of wealth and poverty and the huge challenges of governing, planning, and provisioning these hyper-conurbations.<br><br>Megacities flourish as nodes in a vast urban network that links critical segments of a globalized economy. Driven by the forces of industrialization, the rise of megacities has not occurred by happenstance, but because political geography has favoured specific locations. In an age of migration, in which people have moved from farmland into cities, uneven patterns of urban growth have produced hyper-agglomerations that offer unique challenges and opportunities to their hinterlands and national economies.

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4 results in Megacities

New York
  • Jill S. Gross, Hank V. Savitch
  • Published by:
    Agenda Publishing
    Published online:
    20 January 2024
    Print publication:
    23 March 2023
  • New York became the world's first megacity in the 1930s. Since then it has remained the largest city in North America but, globally, it has been surpassed in size by the younger cities of Asia. Nevertheless its metropolitan area is home to 20 million people and it continues to be America's premier city.

    The authors examine the New York metropolis through the lens of a series of twenty-first century pressures related to demography, economic growth, urban development, governance, immigration, leadership and globalization. How New York's institutions and policies have either risen to meet these challenges, stagnated in the face of them, or simply failed to resolve them is the focus of the book. In particular, the authors examine the municipality of New York City and how it navigates the increasingly complex battles with higher levels of government over rights to the city and resource needs.

    The book examines the shifting tides of corporate centered development, particularly the vibrant financial sector, and how it has leveraged its powerful geopolitical position in the global economy to continue to grow. The question of governance is explored along with the growing reliance on public-private partnerships to manage megacity problems. Mayoral control and leadership are fundamental to meeting the needs of the residential population along with the demands of business. With over three million immigrants, New York is the most diverse city in North America, but it is also among the most segregated. The authors investigate the positive and negative outcomes that such diversity brings.

Mexico City
  • Martha Schteingart, Jaime Sobrino, Vincente Ugalde
  • Published by:
    Agenda Publishing
    Published online:
    20 January 2024
    Print publication:
    09 February 2023
  • Mexico City is the second largest city on the American continent, the most populous Spanish-speaking city in the world and the richest city, in terms of GFP, in Latin America. The authors explore the political structures, demography, economy, social issues and public administration that make this megacity distinctive.

    Unique and vibrant, Mexico City has been run since the 1990s by left-wing parties with more progressive social and egalitarian concerns about urban problems, and new proposals for different types of state participation. Political changes at the city level has led to changes and fresh approaches in some aspects of social life, including the creation of important local, grass-roots institutions. The book offers quantitative and qualitative assessments of the spatial structure of the city and its distribution of poverty and poor economic outcomes, alongside transportation provision, housing. Deindustrialization and the growth of the service sector alongside an expanding informal economy are also shown to be important dynamics in the economic restructuring of the city.

London
  • Mike Raco, Frances Brill
  • Published by:
    Agenda Publishing
    Published online:
    20 January 2024
    Print publication:
    28 July 2022
  • As one of the fastest growing cities in Europe, London has become a mass generator of employment and a magnet for inward migration. Yet London is also a divided city, whose expansion has generated many planning challenges.

    This book explores the tensions, complexities and difficulties in mobilizing policy agendas in London, but it also argues that public policy still matters and makes a significant difference to outcomes. The authors show how the market-led development of London has meant that the state supports more private-sector-led governance and this has given rise to widespread privatization of the city's decision-making processes and policy implementation. As a key command and control centre in the global economy, London's privatized model has become one for other megacities to emulate.

Paris
  • Christian Lefèvre
  • Published by:
    Agenda Publishing
    Published online:
    20 December 2023
    Print publication:
    28 October 2021
  • Alongside New York and London, Paris is one of the world's earliest megacities. Its growth and character have been fashioned by a distinctive mix of policies that separate it from other long-time megacities as well as the fast-growing urban centres of the Global South.

    Christian Lefèvre examines the social and economic forces that have shaped Paris and which have made it the city it is today. He charts the impact of global trends, such as the shift from industry to service and information sectors, as well as regional factors, especially those arising from Paris's unique system of governance. The book examines the central role the national government has played in policies affecting the city and explores how the shift towards political decentralization and localism has contributed to a system increasingly incapable of taking collective action. This tension is shown to have impacted the city's provision of services, particularly housing, and promoted inequalities within the city and its region. Paris's unrivalled national dominance is also examined alongside its weaker position as a global city.

    The book is an authoritative analysis of the evolution of modern Paris and the challenges that face its governance and future development.