Why Cities Defined By Space Are No Longer Relevant in Policy Formulation

Answer

Why Cities Defined By Space Are No Longer Relevant in Policy Formulation

According to batty there is more to a city than just space itself, there are factors in a city that define it and the interactions between those factors that have more impact to the city than the location itself. These factors and their interactions are the things that add value to the city itself. Having this in mind, we can change the perspective on how we look at cities (Batty, pg. 13). The factors to be considered in such an interaction include, communications, flows and networks and relations, rather than locations. Location and its description is just a product of these interactions.

City planning paradigm

City can be described as a complex system built together to perform a function or a set of functions. It has a chain of command organized from top, which holds the authority, to the bottom, where instructions are received for implementation. All this work together to bring the city back to its equilibrium. The Effectiveness of this system with its chain of command is what gives the city its description. In the old city paradigm, the location was viewed as the most important as it is where all these activities take place.

In the new city paradigm, interactions are more important than the location where the interaction take place. This is because a city is viewed as a living organism which is growing from the bottom going up and doesn’t necessarily return to its equilibrium (Forman & Richards, 2014). The approach that should be applied to the cities should be based on networks instead of location. This is communication and transportation technologies have increased the networks and the structures of the cities. These advancements in technologies have made people travel far places in a short period of time as well as send more messages at far distance over short periods of time.

Some of these improvements in technologies which have changed the shape of cities include railroads, trucks, planes and cars which have improved, while satellite communications, fiber optics, internet and more powerful cell phones and computers have replaced the older forms of communication which were very much limited in terms of coverage. With these changes, it is possible to assert authority and issue command which can be effectively implemented over a short period of time in a wide geographical area (Batty, pg.21).  These advancements have led to the decentralization of aspects that make up a city thus leading to its geographical expansion. Such aspects include communication, traffic, finance and power. It has also seen the cost of communication decrease as its speed increased.

Globalization and decentralization

Globalization is defined as the increased trade and integration throughout the world as a result of advancements in technology, which has enabled faster and cheaper communication and transportation with limited trade barriers. Globalization is a perfect example of the changes which have made it even easier to have connection with people who are in far-away places in such a way that was not possible even in a city in decades earlier due to technological advancements which have been made today.

Decentralization is the distribution of authority or focus from one central point to many different points. In earlier decades most power in many regions was decentralized to achieve uniformity in plan and execution of authority. With the current advancement in technology, power has been decentralized without affecting the effectiveness of the systems involved in the proper running of these authorities. Decisions regarding various aspects of these smaller entities like communication, traffic and finance are made at these points and smoothly integrated with the whole system at the central point.

In the earlier decades, cities were composed of neighborhoods which were defined according to closeness of locations. However, according to Batty (pg. 33), changes in technology has seen the growing importance of their interaction of these localities rather than their physical locations. These interactions have seen the growth of complex patterns which can as well be modified to suit a specific need as well as achieve as specific outcome.

Batty (pg. 33-57) also points out to laws of scaling which build the science of the cities. The first law suggests that the potential connections increase as a square of population. The second law suggest that income tends to increase more than proportionately with increase in population. The growth of cities also sees them decrease their numbers in a region. In his fourth law, he also suggests that the density of population decreases with its expansion from the CBD.

The fifth law suggests interactions in the cities tend to decrease as transport costs and distance increase. As cities grow bigger their decline in density and their profiles also flatten. The cities also become more sustainable as they grow bigger. Therefore, according to Batty (pg. 33-57), the science of cities with the considerations made above, it is possible to develop formal ideas about the organization of cities and their structures in relation to the changes of technologies experienced. The focus should therefore be on the networks and interactions rather than locations.