Urban Politics

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24 October , 2007

Urban Politics

Introduction

The politics of urban development has frequently been addressed by numerous authors and scholars . Numerous suggestions have been made to promote the effective development of urban policies . Viewing urban areas markets which are closely connected with economic laws is a new interesting approach exercised by Raines should be critically examined

Playing from strength : The market power of cities

Raines refers to the fact before the middle of the 20th century no one could even

imagine about speaking of cities as markets . However , such parallel is not rare in the contemporary economy and urban environment Moreover , comparing cities to markets is a practical approach which may allow discovering new cities ' potential and the sources of economic welfare . The author is absolutely confident , that the future of cities in the economic market is very promising and positive . It is impossible to state , that the market potential of cities is unilateral , as cities are characterized by the highest level of diversification . As a result this diversification should also be addressed within the issue of comparing cities to markets

Recognizing the market potential of the cities is the direct pathway towards global urban development . In to make the evaluation objective , Raines has divided the cities into three different classes Consequentially , the three types of various urban markets and their potentials have been identified (2 .The author has used the cities performance relative to the national market average (2 ) as the criterion for the mentioned division . The author refers to cities as global , national and regional . Global cities are those which drive the global economy and represent the global concentration of human economic , financial and related resources . These cities are the centers of educational , scientific , tourism and cultural development . As a result , their market potential is the greatest and they are anticipated to bring the highest rates of returns to those who invest into the urban development of global cities . National cities , as determined by Raines are those which represent narrow economic branches and operate in the smaller sectors of commerce (3 . National cities may resemble global urban systems , but they operate at a smaller scale . However , the author does not provide the reader with any explanation , why these cities are referred to as national . Does Raines imply , that being limited to one or two economic sectors , these cities cannot contribute into the global economic development and can be valued at the national level only ? With Los-Angeles mentioned by the author as the national center of entertaining industry , one may equally assume that Los-Angeles is also important internationally . The volumes of tourist services provided to foreign Los-Angeles visitors display steady annual growth rates as a result , connecting Los-Angeles with national economic benefits only risks lacking consistence . Although , for the purposes of the Raines study , distinguishing Los-Angeles and similar cities into a separate category called National ' is relevant and is necessary

Regional cities represent one more separate group of cities , as Raines...