Spaces and exchanges

Spaces and exchanges

The notion I am going to deal with is « Spaces and Exchanges ». To begin with, I’d like to give a definition of the notion: an exchange is an act of giving and receiving something else in return. It can also be seen as a continuous movement or circulation. To illustrate the notion, I have chosen to talk about London as a global city. We way wonder to what extent London may be considered as a form of exchange and what impact do global cities have on people’s everyday lives ? We will see first why London can be considered as a global city and what are main kinds of exchanges. Then we will identity some negatives aspects of life in global city.

I) Global city : an enrichment

As we learn from the graph titled Historical population of Greater London, London’s population grew from 1 million to 6.7 million in 1900 due to job opportunities and better living conditions offered by industrial development. She attracted many immigrants from the colonies and poorer parts of Europe. People with different cultures, religions and languages must were living together. This urban development results in the transformation of London: this city now can be considered as a global city. She is one most multicultural city and she highlights these cosmopolitan culture with creation of museum, sister city relationship or district like Chinatown. However in London we can hear more of 150 languages as English, French and Spanish of course but also Arabic, Greek, and Portuguese. This diversity is finally a magnet for tourisms or foreigners and increase exchanges movement of people. Moreover, this immigration pattern enables economic exchange too: while immigrants are given the opportunity to improve their living conditions, the London economy benefits from their adaptability. Indeed in the same document we can see that she is in the top 5 in the world economy and an international marketplace. The City of London is home to the London Stock Exchange or the insurance market (Lloyd's of London).

Trans : Global cities are urban spaces in which there are information, financial and population exchanges and also in which different communities exchanges cultures, languages or customs. But these urban concentration create to problems that must be solved

II) Consequences of Global city

If the life in global city has some benefits… there are too some negative aspects. However the needs of such dense populations have led to serious problems in terms of environment: ex slums, fog of Victorian London to the Great Smog of 1952, and traffic pollution. London struggle to found solutions to reduce their carbon footprints and improve urban living conditions. Especially with the creation of BedZED project that we have studied in the OECD Observer article. Beddington Zere energy Development is a carbon neutral housing project with solar panels, south-facing terraces and bio energy. London try also to improve transport as part a drive to make urban living healthier and more environmentally friendly for example with road congestion charge. Moreover, London in store politic of carpooling which permits reduce carbon footprints, and is in the same times the occasion to create social cohesion.

Conclusion : Global city such as London play the role of communication hubs and with is urban concentration, she is the

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