Spaces and Exchanges : Chat impact global cities and their evolution can have on people's lives and the places where they live

I’m going to speak about the notion entitled «  Spaces and Exchanges ».

Let’s begin with definition of this notion.

An exchange is the act of giving and receiving something else in return. It can also be seen as a continuous movement or circulation of people or goods. There are different kind of exchanges : media, exchanges between people, trade…

Spaces refer to all places that society occupy and to the interaction between people.

To illustrate this notion, I’m going to deal with Global Cities. A global city is characterized by his opportunities, its initiatives, its diversity and its urban development.

So, we can wonder what impact global cities and their evolution can have on people’s lives and the places where they live.

I’ve chosen 3 doc to focus on this notion and this question.

        The first document deals with Londoners trough time and exposes the positive aspect of London. We can see that trough this century, population increased, then decreased and increased again. We can also observe that the outer boroughs population developed : more and more people go and live in outer London(La grande banlieue Londonienne) , we can talk about urban sprawl (expansion of urban areas on undeveloped land near a city). Immigrants think they can find a healthier and more spacious environment, a better standard of living, jobs. So, London has to get bigger, more and more to welcome the new inhabitants, to think about how different communities will live together with cultural differences and the language barrier, but also congestion and unemployment.

        Then, the second doc is a recording about the Sadiq Khan’s victory speech a few days after his election as the new mayor of London. He exposed his projects to make London better. For him, London, has to be a safe place with cleaner air and a healthier environment. But this city, also has to offer more jobs, better pay, a decent and affordable home.

Moreover, a global city as London is a city of equality and opportunities. That’s why Sadiq Khan uses his own experience, to show how London offer to every Londoner, whatever his origin is , the chance to succeed. So, we can say that global city, as London is, can offer to people, many chances to fulfill one’s potential and thrive.

        Now, i'm going to talk about another example of global city :  Singapore, often called « The Lion City ». It implies that Singapore is a very powerful city. Nevertheless, Singapore was before a very poor city, but now, this hub of finance is a very modern city. The doc we studied about this city is a picture which represents a t-shirt sold in Singapore. The t-shirt is covered by 9 ban signs prohibiting many things like chewing gum, smoking or picking flowers. If people don't respect these laws they are finned. Due to this, Singapore, The fine city seems very strict. The inhabitants freedom is limited, even if we may feel safe to live in Singapore since everything is clean and controlled. Consequently, global cities like Singapore, choose to offer and promote a better environment and better conditions of living, by establishing rules and being strict with the population.

        To sum up, it’s obvious that global cities, like London or Singapore, have a real impact on people and on exchanges. Thanks to urban development, Global Cities have become more and more important, which brings positive aspects, such as diversity, a world of opportunities or a world economy but it also created problems, that we are nowadays trying to solve, such as congestion, pollution…

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