GEOG 1101 Lecture 15 Outline of Last Lecture I Changes to nature and composition II Paths to development III Foreign Direct Investment IV ENZ s V Trade Outline of Current Lecture I Human Environments II The Fertile Crescent III Urban Origins IV Urban Expansion V Industrialization and urbanization VI Cities Current Lecture Human Environments Are the primary spaces and places that shape human life Are co produced We shape them to suit our needs and they perpetuate society economy politics culture etc Varies geographically Natural includes environment nature and natural resources Built includes cities communities buildings homes Long before we destroyed the environment in the global scale we did it in the local scale Extinction of species locally The Fertile Crecent The birth of agriculture and the western society Most of cereal crops were domesticated in this region Important site for early civilizations Corn was one of the crops domesticated in Mexico and it came from a plant which was a grass which had small kernels Very profitable crops which fed big civilizations Contemporary period These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Scientific principles were then being used in agriculture so that people could be freed and do other stuff Urban Origins Middle East 3500 BC Fertile Crescent Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys Indus Valley 2500 BC Northern China 1800 BC Mesoamerica 100 BC Andean America 800 AD Europe Medieval Urban Expansion 500 1000 AD Ecclesiastical or university centers Cambridge England Bremen Germany Trondheim Norway Defensive Strongholds Administrative centers Cologne Germany Winchester France Imperialism 1400 s to 1800 s Main goal was colonizing and imperializing areas around the world Industrialization 1850 present Developing a manufacturing economy and using the theories of science and modernity Urban Settlements Core countries are consistent with economic development and they have the largest percentage of people living in cities Rates of Urbanization The rate at which people leave the rural and move to cities Very high within the Periphery Industrialization and Urbanization Merchant capitalism Gateway cities serve as a link between one country region and others because of their physical location Flow of goods globally New York Cape Town Guangzhou Cities synonymous with industrialization Labor transportation factories warehouses Shock cities Embody surprising and disturbing changes in economic and population growth Comparative advantage specialization in activities concentrated in region Industrial cities Manchester England 15000 to 2 3 M in 150 years Due to textile manufacturing Chicago US 300K to 3 3M in less than 100 years Dubai grew immensely from 90 s to 2005 Very technologically intensive activities Had comparative advantage of special economic zones Has become major port for all of Middle East World Cities Conduct a disproportionate part of world s business Participate in the global economy Cumulative causation buildup of advantageous largely due to specialization and external linkages Play key roles in organizing space beyond their national boundaries London New York Miami Hong Kong Singapore Brussels Paris Johannesburg Tokyo Astana Kazakhstan Capital built in 21st century Built with oil wealth The czar built it Filled with very symbolic architecture Very different from other cities in Asia Megacities Both important globally and nationally Sheer size is more than 10M people Ex Bangkok Beijing Cairo Kolkata Manila Mexico City Teheran Link social and provincial economies to global system Provide links between informal and formal sectors Informal work takes place off record under the table not subject to taxation and regulations One Half of the world s population lives in cities It was 30 in 1950 Over Urbanization Cities grow more rapidly than jobs and housing they can sustain Slums shantytowns squatter settlements Peripheral housing often temporary lack access to drinking water sanitation electricity