Global shift
In the 1970s and 1980s, the global shift began. This involved the movement of manufacturing from Europe and USA to many Asian countries. It led to the economic re-emergence of the Asian region.
The factors helped to accelerate the global shift:
- Individual Asian countries, such as India, began to allow overseas companies to access their markets, with a new open door policy
- TNCs began to seek new areas for manufacturing and for outsourcing services.
- FDI began to flow into the emerging or re-emerging Asian countries
The benefits of growth in China
- Investment in infrastructure: China has developed to the world’s longest highway network, reaching 100,000km in length and linking all cities and provinces. 82 airports have been built since 2000, taking China’s total to 250.
- Reduction in poverty: Over 300 million Chinese people are now considered to be middle class. Sales of consumer items have also rocketed. Poverty in China has significantly reduced, with between 1980 and 2010, China reduced the number of people living in poverty by 680 million.
- Urban incomes have sharply increased since 2000, driven by both economic growth and slower population growth. Urban incomes have risen by 10% a year since 2005. Even though there are still variations in average incomes between different urban industries, they are still much higher than workers would receive if they had remained in the countryside. There is a big growing rural-urban divide in China. In 2013, disposable income for the poorest 20% of rural households was around £400, compared to over £9000 for the richest 20% in cities.
- Better education and training: Education is free and compulsory in China between the ages of 6 and 15, resulting in 94% of Chinese over the age of 15 now being literate compared to just 20% in 1950. The growth in higher education has helped to create a skilled workforce for the Chinese economy’s expanding knowledge and service sectors.
The costs of growth in China
- The loss of productive farmland: Despite increased food productivity, China’s industrialisation has led to increasing loss of farmland since 2000. Over 3 million hectares of arable farmland has been polluted with heavy metals. The increased use of fertilisers and pesticides has also led to farmland near rivers being taken out of production.
- China’s rapid industrialisation has created an urgent need for more urban housing, which has resulted in a big increase in informal homes. Land prices rocketed and made decent unaffordable, particularly near city centres.
- Pollution and health problems: Chinese economic growth has caused environmental problems that affect human health. 70% of China’s rivers and lakes are now polluted. 360 million Chinese people do not have access to safe drinking water. In 2015, research showed that Chinese air pollution kills an average of 4400 people of every day.
- Land degradation: Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation are reducing further, and over 40% of China’s farmland is now suffering degradation. Land clearance also led to deforestation and over-intensive grazing.
- Loss of biodiversity: In 2015, the WWF found that China’s terrestrial vertebrates had declined by 50% since 1970. The main cause being habitat loss and the degradation of natural environment by economic development.
Problems for deindustrialised regions
- High unemployment
- Crime: In the low-income US urban districts, life expectancy can be up to 30 years lower than in affluent districts. Drug-related crime is now the basis of an informal economy in some poor neighbourhoods of failing US cities.
- Depopulation: Middle-class Americans have migrated out of failing neighbourhoods in large numbers. Detroit has lost 1 million residents since 1950.
- Dereliction: The combination of manufacturing industry closures, falling house prices and rising crime results in widespread environmental dereliction.
The growth of megacities
A megacity is home to 10 million people or more. In 1970, there were just 3, but by 2020 there will be 30. They grow through a combination of rural-urban migration and natural increase. Megacities in low-income and middle-income countries have grown especially rapidly.
Urban pull factors
- The main factor almost everywhere is employment. FDI by TNCs in urban parts of poorer counties provides work opportunities.
- Urban areas offer the hope of promotion and advancement into professional roles that are non-existent in rural areas.
- Schooling and healthcare my be better in urban areas, making cities a good place for young migrants with aspirations for their children.
Rural push factors
- The main factor is usually poverty, aggravated by population growth and land reforms.
Agricultural modernisation reduces the need for rural labour further e.g farm machinery.
- Resource scarcity in rural areas with population growth may trigger conflict and migration
Mumbai: a rapid megacity growth
- In 2015, the area was home to 22 million people, having doubled in size since 1970.
- Urban employment covers a range of economic sectors and skill levels, with big global brands such as Starbucks being present in Mumbai. In retail areas, like Colaba Causeway, large numbers of local people work selling goods to the country’s rising middle class.
- Some very wealthy people live in Mumbai, with their spending helping to drive up housing prices in affluent areas. Rising land prices across Mumbai mean there is great pressure to redevelop various slum areas.
Challenges in megacities
- Overcrowding: When cities become overcrowded, the resultant competition for resources drives up prices and can lead to a lower quality of life for may.
- Poor housing: because migration from rural areas is fast and on a huge scale, the authorities cannot plan for it. Moreover, new migrants cannot afford high rents for decent housing, and are forces to live in poor conditions.
- Traffic congestion: Rapid growth means that cities grow faster than the rate at which the authorities can build new routes
- Air pollution: Rapid growth causes serious air pollution due to the concentration of industry, waste and emissions from personal and commercial vehicles serving the strong urban economy.
Karachi (Pakistan): Social and environmental challenges
- Karachi has a population of over 24 million.
- It is estimated that 50% of Karachi’s population live in slums, and 75% of these slum dwellers work in informal sector.
- The main points of disposal for many neighbourhoods are natural storm drainage channels, rather than a proper system, causing the efficiency of the city’s waste management to be severely compromised.
- Poverty causes the political and social alienation of young people, which in turn leads to ethnic violence and crime.
Global hubs
A global hub is a settlement or region that has become a focal point for activities with a global influence, such as trade or business. It is recognised by it’s influence rather than it’s population size.
Three types of population movement have led to the growth of global hubs:
- Elite international migrants: These are highly skilled and/or socially influential individuals. They encounter few obstacles when moving between counties. Most governments welcome highly skilled and wealthy migrants.
- Low-waged international migrants: They are drawn towards global hubs in large numbers. They will work in low paid jobs such as in kitchens, construction sites or domestic cleaners.
- Rural-urban migration: This is the main driver of city growth in global hubs in developing countries but plays less of a role in developed counties.
Example of low-wage international migration
Indian workers moving to the UAE: over 2 million Indian migrants live in the United Arab Emirates, making up 30% of the total population.
Benefits of migration for host region
- Fills particular skills shortages
- Economic migrants are willing to do labouring work that locals may be reluctant to
- Working migrants spend their wages on rent, benefiting landlords, and pay tax on legal earnings
- Some migrants are ambitious entrepreneurs who establish new business employing others.
Benefits of migration for source region
- Migrants remittances can contribute to national earnings significantly
- Less public spending on housing and health
- Migrants or their children may return, brining new skills
Costs of migration for host region
- Social tensions may arise if citizens of the host country believe migration has led to a lack of jobs or affordable housing
- Local shortages of primary school places due to natural increase among a youthful migrant community
Costs of migration for source region
- The economic loss of a generation human resources schooled at government expense, including key workers e.g doctors
- Reduced economic growth as consumption falls
- Increase in the proportion of aged dependents and the long-term economic challenges it creates
- Closure of urban services and entertainment brings decline and dereliction to urban built environments
Interdependence
Over time, international migration makes places interdependent. Each country depends on the economic health of the other for it’s own continued well-being:
- Some sectors of the UK are dependent on Eastern European labour; Eastern, in turn, relies on migrant remittances from the UK. In 2009, during the global financial crisis, many UK building projects were cancelled. The knock-on effect was that many migrants stopped sending money home; some even returning to their own counties.
Cultural diffusion
This refers to powerful civilisations spreading and bringing cultural change to the other places.
Cultural imperialism
The practice of promoting the culture/language of one nation in another. It is usually the case that the former is a large, economically or military powerful nation, and the latter is a smaller, less affluent one.
The causes of the growth of a global culture
- TNCs: The global dispersal of products and goods by TNCs play a major role in shaping a common culture. Some cooperation ‘roll out’ uniform products globally, brining cultural change to places.
- Global media: Disney have exported it’s stories everywhere. Western festivals of Halloween and Christmas feature prominently in it’s films.
- Migration and Tourism: Migration brings enormous cultural changes to places. Europeans travelled around the world during the age of empires, taking their languages and customs with them. Today, tourists introduce cultural change to the distant places they visit.
Changing diets in Asia: Impacts of cultural change
Traditional are often low in meat and high in vegetables. This healthy mix is giving way to more meat and fast food among the emerging middle classes, especially in China. During the 1990s, annual meat consumption per capita increased tenfold, from 5 to 50kg.
The impact of this can be seen in the physical environment. Livestock farming has become a new focus, causing a rise in methane emissions. Vast areas of the Amazon have also been cleared for soya cultivation to feed Chinese cattle. The meat consumption will only rise as people escape poverty.
Cultural erosion in Amazonia
Amazonia’s tropical rainforest tribes are among the world’s last isolated groups of indigenous people. However, members of rainforest tribes are becoming aware of Western cultures and lifestyles. Today, many are wearing modern, westernised clothing.
Increasingly, many young Amazonians are moving from the rainforest to urban areas. Inevitably, social goals are becoming more important and this can drive indigenous people to hunt endangered species for food or to sell.
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