Globalization and the City

Globalizationand the City

The city is an age old phenomenon, concept and reality. And it never ceases to intrigue me. I have visited and lived in the major cities of the world- New York, Sydney, London, Dubai and New Delhi. The constant and the theme that defines cities is the variety of people they attract. Be it Sydney or New York or Delhi, a churn and a mass of different peoples defines the city. The city, in different permutations and combinations, nourishes and nurtures all. The city can be ruthless, Darwinian and benign at the same time. The citychanges, chops and alters the nature and orientation of its denizens or dwellers. It forces people into a certain comportment and behaviour. People of different natures, talents, orientations and worldviews inhabit and form thecity. This has been made salient and poignant by the forces of globalization or more accurately, this phase and wave of globalization.(Globalization is also an age old phenomenon).

The city or the major cities of the world are now nodal points in the global economy where an certain ecology that is supportive of the processes of globalization is incubated. Even cities that are not critical to the global economy have, in some way or the other, gone global. Walk or drive around Jammy city and you won’t be hard pressed to find a Pizza Hut outlet or the smiling visage of Ronald McDonald. Most major brands can also be found. Thecity then is the incubatory of capitalism. Truck, barter or exchange is one of the defining mottos of the city. And capitalism then is supportive of or even thrives on diversity and renders cultural and ethnic or religious differences rather mute. The Sikh, the Hindu, the Muslim and the Christian are all out there to truck , barter, and trade or just saunter. The Hindu may want to eat vegan but will not pass over a deal with a Muslim or vice versa. The city and capitalism then have a synergetic and mutually symbiotic relationship with each other.

Is this alarming? Would this lead to the so called homogeneity and airportization of the world? No is the clear cut answer. On the face of it, McDonalds may force people to eat in a certain way- buy burgers off the counter and then quickly eat the meal in its minimalist environs but people are not wired to be the same or adhere to a lifestyle and orientation is determined by mass consumption. People are unique and the cultural and value systems that animate people are deep rooted. And moreover, people are individuals with a unique worldview and orientation. So people, to use the cliché, will always be people. A paradox is in operation here: people are people-different, varied and unique but at the same time same. We are all defined by similar fears, aspirations and pleasures; at the same time, we are unique individuals with different views, orientations and lifestyles. The city has space for all of this. At any given moment in a day, the buzz and the energy of the city makes it seem like a hazy , inchoate mass with no character but probe deeper and thecity hides incredible diversity of outlook, worldviews and behaviours in it.

An enquiry and curiosity about the nature of the city is an experience in itself. It yields rich insights about people and how the citymakes people behave in a certain way. Cities are nurseries and incubatories. And despite the so called homogenization thesis, each city is unique. Cities can offer glimpses into a societies past and how that past interacts with the present. Take Srinagar, for instance. The Srinagar city offers a wealth of insight into origins and development. With a certain view and attitude, thecity offers trips into history, the remnants of the past are visible, the co-existence of different religions and ethnicities with mosques and shrines and temples butting each other as the river Jhelum meanders under the seven bridges.

Cities then should be nurtured. Every city has a unique character and theme to it. This should be enhanced. This can be done by a more or less market friendly policy wherein planning is in accord with market forces. Cities should not be tinkered with or socially engineered. They should be allowed to develop organically. Cities , in a way, can be both living museums and monuments to the future. Let the city be allowed to be a city and let us all savour and relish what the city has to offer.