Shanghai, a Global City in the Making
INTRODUCTION
We are in the possession of three documents: the first one is a text about Shanghai’s growth, the second one is a picture of Pudong, which is a state-level new area of Shanghai, China, located along the east side of the Huangpu River, across from the historic city center of Shanghai in Puxi. The third document is a table that represents traffic of the major ports in 2005. All these documents have one common point: they show us that Shanghai is considered a global city in the making. Global cities can be defined by the role they perform in global economic, financial, cultural, transportation and political affairs. So to what extent can we say that Shanghai is becoming a global city? We will answer this question by showing the economic and infrastructural growth, the political growth and the cultural growth of this Chinese city.
I. Shanghai, a city with a major economic and infrastructural growth…
A. Economic features
* Doc 1: City lies at intersection of global trading routes (Heart of Yangtze river delta); * Doc 1: Economic potential; * Doc 1: Sustained and substantial econ. growth -> landscape of vertical and horizontal expansion; * Doc 1: economy is modernizing -> ½ labor force work n the service sector + 36% are employed in industry;
B. Infrastructural features
* Doc 1: Rampant construction activity; * Doc 1: public + private sectors => building themed satellite towns and hundreds of new subway stations; * Doc 1: expanding road capacity and public transport infrastructure (1/4 of the inhabitants use public transport); * Doc 2: Pudong => has grown rapidly since the 1990s and emerged as China's financial and commercial hub + home to the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and many of Shanghai's best known buildings, such as the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Jin Mao Building, the Shanghai World Financial Center + it is the site of the future Shanghai Tower. *
We are in the possession of three documents: the first one is a text about Shanghai’s growth, the second one is a picture of Pudong, which is a state-level new area of Shanghai, China, located along the east side of the Huangpu River, across from the historic city center of Shanghai in Puxi. The third document is a table that represents traffic of the major ports in 2005. All these documents have one common point: they show us that Shanghai is considered a global city in the making. Global cities can be defined by the role they perform in global economic, financial, cultural, transportation and political affairs. So to what extent can we say that Shanghai is becoming a global city? We will answer this question by showing the economic and infrastructural growth, the political growth and the cultural growth of this Chinese city.
I. Shanghai, a city with a major economic and infrastructural growth…
A. Economic features
* Doc 1: City lies at intersection of global trading routes (Heart of Yangtze river delta); * Doc 1: Economic potential; * Doc 1: Sustained and substantial econ. growth -> landscape of vertical and horizontal expansion; * Doc 1: economy is modernizing -> ½ labor force work n the service sector + 36% are employed in industry;
B. Infrastructural features
* Doc 1: Rampant construction activity; * Doc 1: public + private sectors => building themed satellite towns and hundreds of new subway stations; * Doc 1: expanding road capacity and public transport infrastructure (1/4 of the inhabitants use public transport); * Doc 2: Pudong => has grown rapidly since the 1990s and emerged as China's financial and commercial hub + home to the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and many of Shanghai's best known buildings, such as the Oriental Pearl Tower, the Jin Mao Building, the Shanghai World Financial Center + it is the site of the future Shanghai Tower. *