Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The next two chapters describe two economic issues that are concerned with
aspects of the new economy which may help the employment prospects of urban
places. Chapter 10 (Creative Cites) provides a review and critique of the ideas that
give priority to the contribution of the so-called creative class to the growth of cities
in the new economy of the past twenty years. Despite the superficial attraction of
the idea, the process of growth in contemporary cities seems to be more complex
than a product of one group of people, while some have argued that polices designed
to encourage this growth has increased gentrification and contributed to the mar-
ginalization of people displaced in inner cities. Chapter 11 (Knowledge Cities) is
wider in scope. It deals with the character of knowledge creation and the problem
of how and where new innovative activity is created, identifying the features which
seem to account for the localization of these activities, rather than only focusing in
on one class of people. This review also shows how cities can engage in the process
of economic change and uses the example of the Urban Capital Inventory approach
to show how the positive and negative features of cities can be identified in order
to help urban places attract and retain more inventions and innovative economic
activities.
The next four chapters are concerned with social issues that have either caused
problems in many urban places, or need to be enhanced to improve the liveability
and vitality of cities. Chapter 12 (Safe Cities) describes the background to the ex-
plosive growth in crime in many western cities from the late 1970s and its decline
from the 1990s. It summarizes the difficulties involved in measuring crime and
reviews the range of very different policies that have been created to increase the
safety of citizens from crime and how their development and co-ordination has been
achieved through the adoption of Safe City Strategies. Chapter 13 (Healthy Cities)
summarizes the major changes carried out in the nineteenth century cities of the
developed world to reduce their high mortality rates, which could be seen as the
first healthy city movement. It then focuses on the new health problems emerging,
some of which are providing new challenges for the medical profession, and others
that stem from the wider range of health determinants or factors affecting health,
from environmental factors to those that are socially determined. The review also
includes the new range of policies being advocated by the World Health Organiza-
tion under their Healthy City programme, that focus as much on health promotion
and organization of care as much as medical-only practices. These new policies are
more integrated, involving more local government and citizen engagements and are
designed to include the most vulnerable people who often lack adequate care.
Chapter 14 (Festive Cities) describes a different social issue to the ones dealt with
in the previous two examples. It is one that is linked to improving the enjoyment
of life, not to problems of survival or disability, and sometimes has associations
with older cultural beliefs. It describes the many different types of festivals that are
found in urban places and shows how they have increased in recent years. These
provide not just positive economic impacts but add to the vitality and excitement of
urban life. The discussion shows that festivals have varied origins and are complex
in their impacts. Their multi-dimensional effects are explored to show the utility
of these episodic events and their often conflictual character. Chapter 15 (Slow
