Outline the key characteristics of and some of the key reasons for the rapid recent growth of cities in the global south - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Following the definition offered above, the global south is comprised of 133 countries of the total 197 (Borowiecki, 2013, p. 95). Many of the countries grouped under the Global South fall under central and South America, Asia and Africa. This paper will explore the major characteristics and the major reasons behind the rapid growth witnessed recently, among the cities of the Global South. NORTH-SOUTH ISSUES The Global South and the rapid growth of the urban centers of the Global South are characterized by different issues but the most significant is its economic development outlook and ranking. This issue is related to the differences in the living standards of the south, when compared to those of the North. The major characteristic of the disparities is the evidence of the disparities between the living standards of the poor and the rich, which can be traced to a wide array of factors (Borowiecki, 2013, p. 96-97). Using the arguments of the modernization theory, the relatively, less developed nature of the Global South can be explained on the basis of the transition from traditional to modern societies. These changes started with the industrial revolution, during the 1950s, in countries like England, prior to the World War I. The characteristics of the Global South urban are some of the obstacles in the way of its transition to fully modernized urban centers, like the case has been with the urban centers of the Global North. These obstacles that characterize the urban areas of the Global South include the reign of traditional elites, the peoples’ identification with traditional religious values and non-transformational social mores. These characteristics of the cities of the Global South obstruct the social dislocation that comes with the transformation to modern urban societies. Secondly, bribery and corruption stand in the way of political restructuring, public policy and development plans, which keeps these countries locked under the traditional social system, which may foster urban growth but delay the transformation process (Borowiecki, 2013, p. 98-99). Thirdly, military elites play a major role in the power structure of these societies, democratic rule remains suppressed and the power of the judiciary is influenced by the political system in operation, which delays and slows down the transformation of the urban area. Basing arguments on the dependency theory, the characteristics of the Global South urban area, which keep it less developed than the urban areas of the Global North, include their economic dependency, which succeeded their colonial domination by the more powerful countries. The characteristics of these nations and their urban areas include that foreign investment, foreign trade, the work of Multinational Corporations (MNCs) and foreign investments disadvantage the urban development of the Global South (Borowiecki, 2013, p. 98). The characteristics of the urban development of the Global South include that their economic strongholds are centered on the production of primary goods products, which are mainly raw materials for the production processes of the urban centers of the more developed urban centers of ...Download file to see next pagesRead More