Gentrification of New York and Mumbai as Global Cities - Research Paper Example

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Gentrification of New York and Mumbai as Global Cities

Abstract

The levels of gentrification increase in global cities coinciding with worldwide investors attraction which led to social disruption in neighborhoods that has suddenly become desirable. The term global city first created by Saskia Sassen is considered to be an important point in the global economic system. However, the concept of the global city has evolved in a complex relation with the social and economic characteristic. The implication of the complex relationship can be seen across the major cities of the world. Therefore, my research will explore gentrification in New York City being a global city and compare it with Mumbai, a global city region, located in India. Gentrification of these societies displays similar outcomes in social and economic policies. The specific research questions addressed are:

What is Mumbais and New York future as a financial center?

What are the common gentrifying operators for both cities?

Are there parallels in the process of gentrification occurring in the cities of Mumbai and New York, where the perception of government policies seeking to claim underserved and underutilized areas for profit?

How has the process of gentrification delivered both hopeful and harsh impacts in the cities of Mumbai and New York?

Gentrification is defined as the old neighborhoods of working class communities that led to overpriced land values by the inflow of new and existing development and employment. The swiftly paced of gentrification usually corresponds with cities that are considered to be financially and technically megacities that attract worldwide investors. Gentrification seems to be spreading through neighborhoods of the working poor where underserved land transforms into overpriced land and existing development in the form of revitalization, which translates into relocation. The social, economic and political landscape of New York City and Mumbai seems driven by the concept of the class divide mechanism in these communities. That being the case, the critical aspect of this topic is to examine the gentrification processes and compare the impact it brings to both megacitys pre-existing communities.

Introduction

Over the years the process of gentrification has exploded reaching inner-city neighborhoods across the country, as well as cities outside of the United States. The neighborhoods that were undesirable before are suddenly increasingly sought after. Gentrification commonly occurs in areas where prior disinvestment in the infrastructure creates opportunities for profitable redevelopment, where the needs and concerns of business and policy elites are met at the expense of urban residents affected by work instability, unemployment, increase in rent and housing. It also occurs in those societies where a loss of manufacturing employment and an increase in service employment has led to an expansion of middle-class professionals with a disposition towards central city living and an associated rejection of suburbia.

While development is necessary for any neighborhood to thrive, the renewal of the urban landscape is often accompanied by the displacement of existing residents. Gentrification does achieve its stated goal of renovation and renewal, but it can also create an entirely new set of social and economic problems for those who have been displaced.

Problem

In Mumbai, more slums developed as more people moved to the cities. Conflicts between developers and slum dwellers have been unfolding across the city for more than a decade. Politicians took steps to conduct censuses in the shanties, and to provide residents with documents stating that they owned the land. Now that there is a land rush, real-estate agents, developers and builders are helping residents get the lease agreements, identity cards and legal water and electricity connections that they need to sell their homes.

In New York City, the progression of gentrification has come to inundate the inner-city neighborhoods. The neighborhoods that were considered dilapidated and undesirable before are now suddenly the main targets for investment and redevelopment. Displacement of residents and homelessness is a side effect of gentrification. We are currently witnessing the long-term effects of something that has been taking place throughout history in New York City and is rapidly affecting the neighborhoods and communities around us.

Purpose of Study

This study will employ an analysis from researching a wide-range of material available on this topic and will use historical comparative to gain insight into the dimension of international politics. Also, in this paper, I will examine issues such as finance, migration, and the logistics of gentrification.

The gentrification process pretends to stabilize the declining areas by improving the housing, remove poverty by exclusion and increasing the land value and local revenues with further development and eventually reducing the urban collapse of these undesirable areas. As a selling point, the idea of this process is to introduce socio-cultural changes in the area by increasing diversity through the social mixing of people of a particular class. But in fact, gentrification causes enormous displacement of long-term lower pay scale residents and in so doing, created an increase in homelessness. This displacement is mainly due to high price and high demand for housing. In light of that, this process always receives a mixed opinion from the policy makers, researchers, and urban sociologists.

History of Gentrification in New York City and Mumbai

New York City

The gentrification of neighborhoods in New York cities has attracted notice since at least the 1970s. Many inner city areas have seen increased investment and housing prices, stabilized tax bases, improvements in amenities, dramatic shifts in cultural and demographic characteristics, and an influx of new residents of higher socioeconomic status. According to Derek Hyra, gentrification of today is entirely different than renovation in the early 1970s where New York City went through a major economic transformation. At first, gentrification did not displace people. Most of the areas that became part of that wave were mostly abandoned or old factory districts where few people had not been living in at all. In some cases, long-term vacant downtown office buildings were converted to residences with the help of subsidies from city government. There was scarcely any gentrification of neighborhoods housing the poor. That was what gentrification looked like in the 1970s through 1990s. It is not what gentrification looks like anymore.

To date, the demand for living space in the targeted neighborhoods far exceeds the supply of affordable apartments available. The converted communities emerge specifically for the incredibly rich. Luxury high-rise develops wherever there is room for them creating high property values. New York City which is considered one of the most important financial center of the world identified as a global city by Sassen. It provides an entry for international trade and investment for the United States economy as well as being the center of world finance. It serves as a strategic headquarters for global corporations and financial institutions. As a center for media, finance, and other specialized services, New York exercises a powerful influence on the rest of the world. As a cosmopolitan city, its population is diverse and has significant concentrations of both wealth and poverty.

Mumbai

Beginning in the 1980s and accelerating through the 1990s, the city and its surrounding region suffered a wave of closures of the manufacturing industries. The decline in the manufacturing sector accompanied by increasing informal jobs has affected a large section of Mumbai population.

Mumbai in the 1990s has witnessed some dramatic transformations associated with the process of gentrification. This city has undergone a massive restructuring of urban space, land-use and employment patterns contributed to the changing character of the citys economy as well as the rapid population growth. Mumbai formerly known as Bombay was first developed as an industrial city through the growth and expansion of the cotton textile industry.

The gentrification process in Mumbai has acquired prominent status only after the decline of textile mills which was thought to be its lifeline. Gradually, the abandoned textile mill area of Mumbai became a focal point of attraction for the investors, developers, and builders in gentrifying the area. The new age of modern constructions began to occupy the old land of the mill and within a span of few years transformed into the land of service sectors by building new offices, high-end service sectors, entertainment and creative industries. The continuous growth in the land value contributed to rent increase which made it difficult for people that was living there.

Similarly, the newly wealthy migrant population from all over the world found it easy to settle at the central location, consequently transforming mill lands into the land of transnational elites or transnational capitalist classes as cited by J. Whitehead and N. More. Despite all the talk of world class city status, the real challenge for Mumbai is to deal effectively with joblessness, homelessness, and poverty and providing affordable housing to the majority of its population. Mumbai is the biggest city in India and was named a Global City in 2009 a concept first developed by Saskia Sassen for its current ability to attract Foreign Direct Investment. Both New York City and Mumbai serves as an economic and cultural base of their countries and faces various sets of urban challenges. However, common between both cities is the consideration of restructuring and changes in urban policy to meet the institutional challenges. Policy agendas are primarily concerned with managing and mitigating the social and economic effects of growth.

Various redevelopment programs are evident in New York City. These programs usually allow the nonprofit organizations to allow to rent various units of the city-owned buildings. Development in Manhattan has been evidenced in New York City. It is viewed that many workers and cranes are involved in the redevelopment in various parts of the city especially the Far East of Manhattan. Different malls and large buildings have been constructed in this town. Another reconstruction observed in New York City is the expansion of learning institutions such as Columbia University.

Redevelopment of slums is evident in the various parts of Mumbai India which are a global city. This is due to the right given to every person by the governments of a dignified shelter. It is very clear that various people are living in slums and this has facilitated the government to establish redevelopment plans to ensure there is a decent accommodation for everyone. It is very obvious that Dharavi is the largest slum in India which is found in Mumbai city. Slums families and dwellers have been rehabilitated in the process of redeveloping the slums.

In conclusion, Mumbai is the most globalized city in southern Asia which has evolved in the past 150 years. It is said to have a population of at least 1.5billion people. There is a possibility that that Mumbai in future will be the largest growing concerning financial issues. Many banks are established in the city to ensure more Indian firms are financed. There are various ongoing plans and proposals which will guarantee the establishment of international banks in Mumba...