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Module 15

The learning module for Geography 3 at the South East Asian Institute of Technology focuses on the impact of city sizes on globalization and their intersection with economic, political, and structural factors. It discusses the evolution of cities, the role of economies of scale, and the complexities of modern urban environments, highlighting issues such as income inequality and displacement of low-income earners. The module also includes worksheets for students to explore differences between rural and urban cities, governance, and the effects of population size on economic stability.

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Czar Jade Galvez
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3 views6 pages

Module 15

The learning module for Geography 3 at the South East Asian Institute of Technology focuses on the impact of city sizes on globalization and their intersection with economic, political, and structural factors. It discusses the evolution of cities, the role of economies of scale, and the complexities of modern urban environments, highlighting issues such as income inequality and displacement of low-income earners. The module also includes worksheets for students to explore differences between rural and urban cities, governance, and the effects of population size on economic stability.

Uploaded by

Czar Jade Galvez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SOUTH EAST ASIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,

INC.
College of Education
National Highway, Crossing Rubber, Tupi, South Cotabato

LEARNING MODULE
FOR
SSE 207
GEOGRAPHY 3

Prepared by:
CZAR JADE GALVEZ, LPT

WEEK 15

Module on Geography 3- SSE 107 1|Page


WEEK 5 Cities of All Sizes

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of these weeks, the students should be able to:

 Discuss how the sizes of cities affects their visions for globalization
and;
 Explain how cities intersect with economic, political, and structural
globalization.

SUGGESTED TEACHING LEARNING:

 Class lecture/discussion
How do cities interest with economic, political, and cultural
globalization?
 Film viewing

INTRODUCTION
Cities arising from concentrations of immobile factors are relatively easily
modeled, although we only mention them here. Given an immobile and
concentrated factor, like a coal bed, industries which use the factor, such as mining,
locate at that point. Industries such as steel, which use the primary product
intensively, tend to locate nearby to save transportation costs. Others which are
related and a retail sector follow for the same reason. The neoclassical model can
describe such a city: there is convexity in production technology, and there are no
externalities, and therefore the market mechanism can achieve an optimal
allocation.1 A concentration of immobile
factors, however, can produce only a relatively small city, and does not seem to be
an important cause of modern cities.

Module on Geography 3- SSE 107 2|Page


We will first examine cities that arise from economies of scale. Economies of
scale are prevalent in modern technology and result from such things as the
division of labor and the indivisibility of such factor inputs as machinery and
buildings. If the reduction in production costs due to scale economy is greater than
the increase in commuting costs, a city will emerge. Such a city is basically a
factory surrounded by the residential zone of its workers and may well be called a
‘factory town’.
Modern cities are, however, too complex to have resulted from simple
economies of scale. Why should industries gather in a large city, where the
commuting costs for each are greater than they would be in a single industry town?
The answer is that industries find it profitable to gather together for a variety of
reasons: communication costs and transportation costs of intermediate inputs can
be saved; there is a larger pool of skilled labour to draw on, for example, and a
more sophisticated infrastructure including transportation facilities. In order to
capture these elements in a simple model, we assume a variant of Marshallian
externality. We assume externalities among firms in a city, rather than among firms
in an industry: all firms in a city are assumed to benefit from an increase in the
population of the city. This assumption introduces the possibility of a city consisting
of many firms by allowing increasing returns to scale which are internal to a city but
external to the separate firms in a city.

Why the focus on larger cities?

Cities took a long time to physically reflect these changes and only by the
late 20th century had the dense concentrations that dominated the past begun to
change through sprawl, globalization, and even greater polarization in their cores.
This transition to an urban society, where we will all be living in cities of one kind or
another, will be complete by the end of this century (Batty, 2011a), but the shadow
of the historical city will be with us for a long time yet. The physical form of the city
must thus be seen increasingly as a series of accidental or even purposive events
frozen in time, the products of earlier technologies and social preferences.

The development of ever-larger cities is a global phenomenon. In Australia,


both Sydney and Melbourne are projected to have populations of 8 million by mid-
century.

Large cities are often said to be innovation drivers, wealth producers, the
economic engines of the country. The focus on large cities’ wealth generation and
agglomeration economies – the benefits when firms and people come together in
cities – means the distributive aspects are neglected. In our previous research, we
found larger cities have more unequal income distribution.

The largest cities have disproportionate numbers of high-income earners. It’s


not just a matter of large income gaps between rich and poor. High-income earners
also push out or displace low-income earners.

Module on Geography 3- SSE 107 3|Page


Empirical evidence indicates that traditional metrics fail to capture the reality
of these displacements and expulsions.

The shape of the city in the world view

Module on Geography 3- SSE 107 4|Page


City sizes vary because cities of different types specialize in the production of
dif- ferent traded goods, exported by cities to other cities or economies.
A city is a large human settlement.[1][2][a] It can be defined as a permanent
and densely settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members
work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. [3] Cities generally have extensive systems
for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, land use, production of goods,
and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between
people, government organisations and businesses, sometimes benefiting different
parties in the process, such as improving efficiency of goods and service
distribution.
A city can be distinguished from other human settlements by its relatively
great size, but also by its functions and its special symbolic status, which may be
conferred by a central authority. The term can also refer either to the physical
streets and buildings of the city or to the collection of people who dwell there, and
can be used in a general sense to mean urban rather than rural territory.
National censuses use a variety of definitions - invoking factors such
as population, population density, number of dwellings, economic function,
and infrastructure - to classify populations as urban. Typical working definitions for
small-city populations start at around 100,000 people. Common population
definitions for an urban area (city or town) range between 1,500 and 50,000 people,
with most U.S. states using a minimum between 1,500 and 5,000 inhabitants. Some
jurisdictions set no such minima. [15] In the United Kingdom, city status is awarded by
the Crown and then remains permanently. (Historically, the qualifying factor was
the presence of a cathedral, resulting in some very small cities such as Wells, with a
population 12,000 as of 2018 and St Davids, with a population of 1,841 as of 2011.)
According to the "functional definition", a city is not distinguished by size alone, but
also by the role it plays within a larger political context. Cities serve as
administrative, commercial, religious, and cultural hubs for their larger surrounding
areas. An example of a settlement with "city" in their names which may not meet
any of the traditional criteria to be named such include Broad Top City,
Pennsylvania.

- - -Nothing Follows- - -

Module on Geography 3- SSE 107 5|Page


Week 9- Worksheet

Do as indicated
1. How does rural cities differ from urban cities in terms of human
settlement and size?

2. Using a Venn Diagram, compare and contrast rural city from urban city.

3. How does population size affect city in terms of its governance, policy
making and economic stability?

4. Why is city sizes vary from different types of specialized aspect in the
field of production such as traded goods.

Module on Geography 3- SSE 107 6|Page

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