Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Guest
Field Note
Manila, the Philippines
I passed through cargo shipping piers in Manila,
the Philippines, and encountered row after row
of hand-built squatter houses. I was struck by the
scale of the settlements and the sheer number
of people who inhabit them. I was shocked at the
level of squalor in people's living conditions. The
garbage scavengers in this picture wore cotton
gloves and held prods to dig through the trash
for items they can use, trade, or sell. The poor
and destitute live throughout the city because
housing stocks are inadequate, underlying pov-
erty persists, and thousands fl ock to Manila daily
recognizing that petty services and even trash
picking often offer more opportunity than life in
the rural provinces.
Credit: Johnathan Walker, James Madison University
Figure 9.30
Shaping Cities in the Global Periphery
and Semiperiphery
Many of the world's most populous cities are located in
the less prosperous parts of the world, including São Paulo
(Brazil), Mexico City (Mexico), Mumbai (India), Dhaka
(Bangladesh), and Delhi (India). Across the world, people
continue to migrate to cities in response to “pull” factors
that are often more imaginary than real; their expecta-
tions of a better life mostly fail to materialize.
Particularly in the economic periphery, new arrivals
(and many long-term residents, too) are crowded together
in overpopulated apartment buildings, dismal tenements,
and teeming slums (Fig. 9.30). New arrivals come from
other cities and towns and from the rural countryside,
often as large families; they add to the cities' rate of nat-
ural growth. Housing cannot keep up with this massive
infl ow. Almost overnight huge shantytowns developed
around these cities. The overcrowding and dismal con-
ditions do not deter additional urban migration, and as a
result millions of people spend their entire lives in urban
housing of wretched quality.
city is located in a wealthy country in the world and
which is located in a poor country. What factors can
you consider? You may look at the presence or absence
of high-rise buildings, the aesthetics of the buildings,
the transportation, and the distance between houses,
and after doing so, you may guess that Figure 9.28 is
in the wealthy country. Look again. This time, look
for whether there are telephone and electrical wires,
and at the building materials used. Figure 9.28 is actu-
ally in a poorer country; it is the city of Lomé, Togo
in Subsaharan Africa. Figure 9.29 is part of a suburb
of Tokyo, Japan. Japanese houses in this middle-class
neighborhood are on top of each other because the city is
so densely populated that land is at a premium. In Lomé,
the high rises are part of the central business district, and
they and the houses immediately surrounding them are
where the wealthy live. The houses in the foreground are
where the poor live. Here the roofs are tin or cardboard,
the houses are makeshift, and utility lines are lacking.
Notice that in this picture of Lomé, we see no evidence
of a middle class; this is common in cities of the periph-
ery where there are the “haves” and the “have-nots” and
little in between.
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