II. New York City and Rio de Janeiro, two global cities reflecting their countries’ power
Factfile on New York City and Rio de Janeiro:
Officially The City of New York (nicknamed "Big Apple" or "Gotham") is located in the southern
end of the state of New York, thus in the northeast of the USA, approximately halfway between Washington
D.C. and Boston. It is placed at the mouth of the Hudson River, and much of the city is built on the 3 islands
of Manhattan, Staten Island and western Long Island. It was founded as the colony of New Amsterdam by
Dutchmen in the early 17th century, and then ceded as part of the Province of New York to the British in
1664. Composed of 5 boroughs – i.e. counties (if each were to be independent cities, 4 of the boroughs Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx - would be among the 10 most populous cities in the USA), the
city spread from its beginnings on Manhattan Island (between the Hudson and East rivers) onto nearby
Staten Island, western Long Island, and mainland North America, incorporating the other communities in
1898.
Nicknamed "the magnificent city" (Cidade Maravilhosa) because of its breathtaking natural
setting, Rio de Janeiro (named by the Portuguese explorer, Gaspar de Lemos, in January 1501, its
original name means "River of January") was the colonial capital until 1808 and replaced Salvador de
Bahia as Brazil’s capital in 1763 for almost 2 centuries, until the federal government shifted its headquarters
to Brasilia in 1960. Rio was a city-state between 1960 and 1975, until a presidential decree removed its
federative status and merged it with the state of Rio de Janeiro. Rio’s primacy suffered yet another blow in
the late 1950s: São Paulo, its rival 400 km to the southwest, surpassed it to become Brazil’s largest city.
Rio is situated around the huge natural harbour of Guanabara Bay, in southeast Brazil, and occupies an area
of 1 182.3 square kilometers. The city is squeezed into a narrow strip of land between the coastline
and a steep range of forested mountains; miles of sandy beaches and coastal lagoons are
overlooked by very steep mountains including Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Corcovado, which
rises to over 700 metres. The Corcovado is world famous for its Sugar Loaf Mountain, on top of
which is found the 40 m high statue of Christ the Redeemer, overlooking the city.
A. NYC, a master global city
Sources to use: Map of Manhattan (based on a French schoolbook), New York's boroughs (H .J. de Blij,
Peter O.Muller, Geography : Realms, Regions and Concepts, John Wiley and Son Inc., 2002), New York
aerial view, taken from the film Home made by Yann Arthus Bertrand in 2009, New York/New Jersey
region's trade and transportation network (New York government website, 2012), Global cities, an attempt
of definition (Fu-Chen Lo and Yue-Man Yeung, Globalisation and the world of large cities, UN University
Press, 2008), The following is the text of Mayor Bloomberg's weekly radio address as prepared for delivery
on 1010 WINS News Radio for Sunday, May 20, 2007, The 9/11 terrorist attack in New York seen from
New Jersey (http://static.911digitalarchive.org/REPOSITORY/IMAGES/PHOTOS/1005.jpeg), The presentday economic crisis (http://www.usnews.com/cartoons/ economy-cartoons?s_cid=art_btm, 2013), Wealth
gap in cities creating a social time bomb (The Guardian, October 23, 2008).
Source 1:: Map of Manhattan (based on a French schoolbook)
Source 2: New York's boroughs
Source: H.J. de Blij, Peter O.Muller, Geography : Realms, Regions and
nd Concepts,
Concepts John Wiley and Son Inc.,
2002
Source 3:: New York aerial view, taken from the film Home made by Yann Arthus Bertrand in 2009.
Source 4:: New York/New Jersey region's trade and transportation network
Source: New York government website, http://www.panynj.gov/port--authority-ny-nj.html, 2013
Source 5: Global cities, an attempt of definition:
[…] There is a class of cities that are critical to the new global economy. These are called global cities,
because they perform certain functions that differentiate them from others and that help drive the global
economy. […] One key element of the functional global city system is that new networks and linkages are
created in the system and global cities are the points of convergence of these networks and thus acquire
growing centrality and importance. Network functions are engendered through financial flows, headquarterbranch relations, high-tech service intensity, and telecommunications networks […] Global cities should be
seen as a “junction in flows” of goods, information. […] Competitive leadership depends upon the nodality4,
density, and efficiency of international transport and communication networks linking theses cities to the
rest of the world. Hubs within these networks have accounted for a disproportionate share of urban
development and have attracted firms engaged in transport logistics, telecommunications, and air passenger
transports.
Fu-Chen Lo and Yue-Man Yeung, Globalisation and the world of large cities, UN University Press, 2008
Source 6: The following is the text of Mayor Bloomberg's weekly radio address as prepared for
delivery on 1010 WINS News Radio for Sunday, May 20, 2007.
"Good Morning. This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
"There's no longer much doubt that the greenhouse gases we produce by burning fossil fuels contribute to global
warming; the real question now is 'What are we going to do about it?' New York's answer is straightforward; we aim
to reduce our release of greenhouse gases by 30% by 2030. In fact, City government is going to lead the way by
hitting that 30% target by 2017. These are ambitious goals, and last week we took some major steps toward reaching
them.
"On Wednesday, I joined former President Bill Clinton in announcing a multi-billion dollar public-private partnership
that will help property owners and government agencies in New York and 15 of the world's other biggest cities cut
energy consumption in our existing buildings.
"Working with the Clinton Foundation, five major international banks have each pledged $1 billion to finance
upgrades in heating, cooling, and lighting systems and other worldwide building improvements that will cut energy
use-and greenhouse gas production-by as much as 50%. This will make a big difference in New York, because the
more than 900,000 buildings in the five boroughs account for nearly 80% of the greenhouse gases we produce. […]
"Automobile exhaust is another major source of greenhouse gases. It also produces the air pollution responsible for the
tragically high rates of serious childhood asthma in our city. That's what makes our proposed pilot project of
automobile congestion pricing in Manhattan below 86th Street so important. It would cut the number of vehicles on
those streets-and on streets and highways throughout the city and region-and also finance major mass transit projects.
[…]
"I stressed our city's environmental goals-especially those relating to global warming-when I spoke to mayors of many
of the world's greatest cities when they were in New York last week for a global summit on climate change. Cities are
at the forefront of fighting global warming. Even though cities produce more than 70% of the world's greenhouse
gases, the good news is that because our homes and businesses are relatively compact and close to one another, and
because we rely so heavily on mass transit, New York and other cities also tend to be very energy efficient.[…]
"This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Thanks for listening."
4
Characteristic of being a hub.
Source 7: The 9/11 terrorist attack in New York seen from New Jersey
Source: http://static.911digitalarchive.org/REPOSITORY/IMAGES/PHOTOS/1005.jpeg
Source 8: The present-day economic crisis
Source: http://www.usnews.com/cartoons/ economy-cartoons?s_cid=art_btm, 2013
Source 9: Wealth gap in cities creating a social time bomb
Growing inequality in US cities could lead to widespread social unrest and increased mortality, says a new
UN report on the urban environment. In a survey of 120 major cities, New York was found to be the ninth
most unequal in the world [...]. "High levels of inequality can lead to negative social, economic and political
consequences that have a destabilising effect on societies," said the report. "[They] create social and political
fractures that can develop into social unrest and insecurity."
According to the annual State of the World's cities report from UN-Habitat, race is one of the most
important factors determining levels of inequality in the US and Canada. "In western New York state nearly
40% of the black, Hispanic and mixed-race households earned less than $15,000 compared with 15% of
white households. The life expectancy of African-Americans in the US is about the same as that of people
living in China and some states of India, despite the fact that the US is far richer than the other two
countries," it said. [...]
Source: The Guardian, October 23, 2008
Questions:
1. Prove that New York City has all the functions of a global city (define what a global city is first).
A global city is a metropolis that concentrates political, economic activities and that spread its influence on
its region, on its country and on the world and which rules the world because of the concentration of
financial, economic and political centres that impulse policies of globalisation. And among all, a global city
is connected to all the networks in the world and has more than 8 millions of inhabitants.
New York is a major economic hub: it’s the 2nd most powerful city in the world on the economic aspect after
Tokyo in terms of Global Economic Power Index. But it also be considered as the first in some other index
in order that NYC benefits from the US power. This applies in various economic fields:
- it is a hub of finance, insurance because of the presence of the 1st world stock exchange in the world
(Wall Street) composed of two stock market NYSE and NASDAQ. This last is the largest stock
exchange in the world by capitalization ($ 14,242 billion in 2011) and the second largest stock
exchange in the world by market capitalization ($ 4,687 billion in 2011). But regarding
capitalisation, Wall Street is behind London stock exchange.
-
NYC has a large concentration of wealth because it’s the biggest regional economy in USA. The
estimated Gross Metropolitan Product of the New York metropolitan area is $ 1.13 trillion and it is
predicted to be the richest city by 2025, ahead of Tokyo, Shanghai...
- NYC has also a large concentration of headquarters of TNCs as the fact that many Fortune 500
companies5 have their head offices in the city. These TNCs are as diverse as banks (JP Morgan
Chase and Co), service firms (Ernst and Young LLP), media firms (Thompson Reuters), insurance
firms (New York Life Insurance Co), jeweller and design firm (Tiffany and Co Corp),
telecommunications (Time Warner Cable Inc) and so on.
This economic influence is visible spatially in the two CBDs of NYC such as Wall Street with the Stock
Exchange, TNCs HQ, the Federal Reserve Bank and such as the one midtown close to the Empire State and
the Chrysler buildings.
New York's worldwide influence is also diplomatic, thanks to the presence of the UN headquarters in
Manhattan, since its completion in 1952 (i.e. 7 years after the creation of the organisation at the San
Francisco conference of June 1945); the city also hosts the headquarters of some UN agencies like the
UNICEF. New York City's influence is also, to some extent, military, due to the nearby location of one of
the most famous US military academies, West Point, that has been made worldwide famous thanks to some
of its former students (US presidents, generals...) and movies shot there (e.g. MacArthur, released in 1977).
New York's worldwide cultural power is illustrated by various elements:
- the fame and attractiveness of its universities (e.g. Columbia University – one of the university of the
Ivy League6 -, Manhattan College, New York Institute of technology, New York University, etc.),
some being part of the Ivy League
- many world famous cultural organisations and centres : over 500 art galleries, museums (e.g. : the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall, the MoMA) ; theatres on Broadway, the Metropolitan
Opera, the NYC Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the NYC Ballet, the Rockefeller center, ...
- many famous tourist places such as The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Time Square, Central Park,
the Empire State Building, ...
- NYC is the second film making city in the USA after LA and the third in the world after LA and
Mumbai. The City is also famous for theatre plays.
2. Prove that New York City is a hub
New York is opened and connected to the world thanks to international transportation network and
infrastructures:
- NYC port is the most important on the East Coast and is a part of the US North Atlantic Seaboard
and Northeastern Range, i. e. the most important maritime route on this side of the Atlantic. The Port
of NY/New Jersey is well connected to the rest of the world as it is the gateway for merchandises
and raw materials from all over the world. Its 6 container terminal make it now the 3rd largest port in
the USA handling 5.5 million 20-foot equivalent units in 2011, even if it’s far behind the Asiatic port
such as Shanghai with its 32.5 20-foot equivalent units in 2012.
- NYC has 3 international airports: La Guardia, JFK and Newark, which, for the 2 latter, rank in the
world top 50 airports, both for passenger and freight traffic.
3. Prove that New York City has a regional, national and international influence.
As a center of command and impulse for globalisation, NYC has an influence on the world. Having one of
the world leading stock exchanges, NYC has a large power in order to control and transform financial flows
all over the world. The large amount of TNCs’ Headquarters concentrated in the city let also assume that
important decisions on the New Division of Labour, RandD strategies and commercial strategies and
campaign are decided in NYC. Finally, the cultural and diplomatic importance of NYC attracts each more
and more people from all over the world in order to visit or to stay in the Big Apple.
Moreover, as the first centre of consumption and the real economic capital of the USA, NYC is also an
impulse center for the USA by dragging a large amount of agricultural products, industrial and financial
flows. It also attracts a large number of people for tourism, for studying or for working in NYC in the large
numbers of firms and services that are linked to them.
5
Fortune is a magazine that makes classification of the 500 most important, powerful, richest and dominant TNCs in the world
each year.
6
The Ivy League is composed of the eight most famous, attractive and competitive universities in the USA. Six of them are on the
East Coast: Columbia, Yale, Duke, Princeton, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard and two of the west
coast in the suburbs of San Francisco: Stanford and Berkeley.
Finally the influence of NYC on its region is visible through the transportation system with trains, roads,
subways that connects the city, and its heart Manhattan, to the various district of NYC, to the suburbs and
moreover to New Jersey and region from around 60 km range from the center of Manhattan Island. The
influence is also visible in the phenomenon of the commuters causing large traffic jam and a large crowd of
people in the common transport at the rush hours.
4. Prove that NYC decided to develop a sustainable development program.
NYC explored the idea of a sustainable development program in order to drop the production of greenhouse
gases (GHG). This program was released in 2007 by the mayor Michael Blumberg in a radiobroadcast
speech. The question was to transform the way the city was consuming energy and the question of traffic.
First, it was a question of rehabilitating the old building and the systems of heat and cooling. It causes large
transformations in many districts of NYC, especially Harlem, causing a gentrification, even if it’s only in
progress, in this district. Moreover, a project of creating a toll for traffic was proposed but it faced the
opposition of taxi drivers and the importance of the cost of such a system. But this project wasn’t only a
project for NYC. It’s a part of a larger project and system of finance of sustainable program in global cities,
proving that NYC is an impulse center in this domain too and cooperates with other cities of the world
oligopoly.
5. Explain the weaknesses NYC has had to face since the last decade.
New York City’s space distribution illustrates socio-spatial segregation among the city:
- high cost of land in the central areas, especially in the Manhattan explain why few people can afford
living there: only the wealthiest middle or upper classes, mainly WASPs can afford a house or a flat
in the center of Manhattan, close to the area from downtown to Central Park.
- many inner urban areas (inner city and inner suburb areas), such as Harlem and the Bronx, have been
deserted by populations unable to pay high rents for housing, and have decayed and thus become
ghettos where the poorest populations (ethnic minorities, unskilled and unemployed people) are
concentrated. Nearly 40% of the black, Hispanic and mixed-race households earned less than $ 15
000... live in these neighbourhoods.
- most of the well-off populations live in the outer urban space (outer suburbs and suburbanised
villages, i.e. the rural to urban fringes) such as Queens and Long Island
New York City is today considered as one of the most unequal cities, actually the ninth most unequal in the
world, which can contribute to social troubles and contest. The recent movement of "Occupy Wall Street"
might be an illustration.
Some of New York City’s difficulties weakened it. It was weakened because of the economic crisis resulting
from the subprime mortgage crisis that started in 2008 in Wall Street and in a ripple effect has affected the
entire world economy. Indeed, it has deeply affected the city and the US economy, especially employment.
This was accentuated by hurricane Sandy that hits the Northeastern coastline of the USA in October 2012,
strongly disrupting the infrastructures of transportation, communication and energy supply, affecting deeply
the economy of New York City and other cities of the coastline, but also of the entire country, due to the
high costs of reconstruction. The New York City mayor’s office in late November estimated total losses to
the city to be $19 billion. NYC’s position was also contested as the 9/11/2001 attacks shows because the
symbol of the US and NYC economic power was targeted first: the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre,
i.e. the heart of NYC’s (ad the US) financial and economic power.
B. Rio de Janeiro, an emerging global city
Source 1: Brazil map
Source: map of the world, 2013.
Source 2: Rio de Janeiro’s geographical features
Source: H.J. de Blij, Peter O.Muller, Geography : Realms, Regions and Concepts, John Wiley and Son Inc.,
2002
Source 3: Rio de Janeiro means business
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s beachfront city of Rio de Janeiro has long been a lure for tourists who are
drawn to miles of beaches and a relaxed outdoor lifestyle. But perceptions about Rio are changing — as is
the reality. “The city of Rio de Janeiro has the greatest concentration of opportunities per square meter of
any city in the world,” said Cristiano Prado, manager of infrastructure and new business at industrial trade
group Firjan. Many of the opportunities are related to Rio’s central role in the 2014 World Cup and the 2016
Summer Olympics, two of the world’s biggest sporting events. [...] In addition to generating billions in
public-sector investment alone, these international events are helping to push Rio out from under the shadow
of São Paulo. Although São Paulo is home to the country’s banking sector, the stock exchange and many
corporate headquarters, the two largest companies in Brazil — state oil company Petrobras and mining giant
Vale — call Rio de Janeiro home. Rio is also the base for Brazil’s telecommunications and media
industries.
[...] The city plays a key role in international trade, especially for iron ore, oil and steel—and
many of those sectors are expanding to meet growing global demand for raw materials. Petrobas is investing
heavily—to the tune of $224 billion through 2014—to develop the massive offshore oil deposits that are
buried deep under layers of salt. [...] the latest oil discoveries are expected to push Brazil into the top five of
global oil producers. [...]
Source: http://latintrade.com/2011/03/rio-de-janeiro-means-business, march 2011.
Source 4: Rio’s TNCs
Rio de Janeiro hosts 2 of the 8 Brazilian companies listed by Fortune in its top world 500 companies. The
first is Petrobas, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, which ranks 23 (it gained 11 ranks from 2011 to
2012). It has hit some rough waters. While it remains the world's largest deepwater oil producer, the
company says it foresees a slight decrease in total production over the next five years -- about 2.5 million
barrels per day in 2016, compared to the estimated 3 million barrels per day by 2015 the company projected
in its 2011 five-year business plan. The forecast follows an earlier announcement of Petrobras' plan to
increase gasoline prices by 7.8 percent and diesel prices by 3.9 percent. The second is Vale, a multinational
diversified metal and mining corporation (the second largest mining company in the world) and which
participates in energy consortia, ranking 159.
Source: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2012/countries/Brazil.html, 2012.
Source 5: Rio economic sectors:
Primary Sector: Rio basically invests a lot in sugar-cane production. It has large plantations in the area of
Campos. Production of oranges too forms a major part of the farming sector. Coffee was once a key industry
but due to environmental factors, it has lost its importance. Other food grains are also produced but not in
large amounts to be sold on a large scale. Among the livestock industry there are various animal farms all
over the city. Fishing of sardines is also a significant part of the Brazilian economy.
Industrial Sector: Rio has attracted many oil companies with the discovery of oil in the Campos basin. There
are many international oil companies like Shell, EBX and Esso which have their branches in the city. Not
just branches, but many companies have their headquarters situated in Rio. Some of them are telecom
corporations like Oi and Embratel. Rio comes second in the industrial sector and is a foremost financial and
service centre. The service sector is dominated by the banking sector which is an active part of the economy.
Rio’s stock exchange Bolsa da Valores is the second most dynamic stock market in Brazil.
Tourism Sector: Tourists, both international and other Brazilian visitors are beneficial in boosting Rio’s
economy. The world famous carnivals, beaches and the ecological beauty of Rio attracts thousands of
tourists from all around the world. The multiculturalism found in Brazil and Rio is rare and therefore the
diversity in traditions, lifestyle, and cuisine catches the attention of many. The tropical climate is also one of
the main reasons for the increasing tourist influx. The city can be visited any time of the year as the climate,
even if hot is bearable.
Source: Rio de Janeiro government website, 2012.
Source 6: Rio+20 Earth summit
The first Earth summit in 20 years is formally called The United Nations Conference on Sustainable
Development. After Stockholm in 1972 and Rio in 1992, it is the third and biggest in a series of landmark
global gatherings that aims to find a balance between economic growth and environmental protection. The
high-level summit will be held from 20 to 22 June at the Riocentro Convention Centre in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. [...] Representatives from more than 190 countries, including 130 leaders, will participate in the
formal session. In addition, it is estimated that 50,000 participants from civil society and business groups
will take part in side events and the People's summit. The political weight is tilted heavily towards emerging
economies and developing nations. Brazil, Russia, India and China will be represented by national leaders.
In Europe the picture is mixed: France and Spain are among those participating at the highest level. [...]
Rio+20 is much bigger than its predecessor, but it has also been criticised for being vaguer and less
ambitious. The earlier Earth summit resulted in the landmark conventions on climate change and
biodiversity. This time, however, organisers do not expect any legally binding treaties. Instead, they hope
nations will agree to a set of shared principles, landmarks and goals and initiate a process to define what it
means to be sustainable. [...]
Leaders will grapple with two main themes: How to build a green economy that reduces poverty without
destroying the environment, and how to improve global governance. [...] Draft texts have included proposals
to strengthen protection of the world's oceans [...] to promote alternatives to GDP as a measure of wellbeing, to reduce subsidies for fossil fuels [...] to encourage investment in natural capital, and to provide
financial support for poorer nations to move onto a more sustainable track. [...] As at the climate talks in
Copenhagen and Durban, and the earlier Rio conference, there are considerable divisions - particularly
between developed and developing countries - about burden sharing and whether to emphasise
environmental protection or poverty alleviation. [...] Delegates also disagree on the extent to which
environmental reporting and progress towards commitments should be checked. [...]
Source: The Guardian, June 6th, 2012 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/06/rio-earthsummit).
Source 7: Port of Rio de Janeiro
Source: University of Texas, 2010.
Source 8: Rio airports in passengers flows (2010)
Source: Brazilian Government Airport Authority, 2012.
Source 9: video Brazilian
zilian army takes control of the largest favela in Rio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm6eoRJVoo0
Source: AFP, November 13th, 2011.
Source 10: video Rio de Janeiro, aerial view.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6hoZ2spNkA
Source: Oca Brazil team, september 2011.
Source 11: The 2016 Olympics are helping Rio to emerge from the shadow of São Paulo
[...] Rio de Janeiro will receive about $32 billion
billion in infrastructure investments through 2015. The
investments include upgrades to Rio’s port and international airport and improvements to the city’s
transportation grid. [...] A transformation is also taking place in the hillside slums that also ring Rio de
Janeiro, once home to lawlessness and drug trafficking [...]. As questions about Rio’s ability to guarantee
safety during the World Cup and Summer Olympics resurfaced, government officials sent federal troops into
one of the city’s largest favelas to clear
ear out the gang members and restore order. So far, the measures have
shown promise. Some statistics indicate that crime rates are dropping, while the government has been
adding social and other services and reaching those that need them most. Rio built new
ne police data and
intelligence centres and increased training and salaries for street officers. [...] Other projects are under way
that underscore the long-term prospects for Rio beyond the sporting events. [...]
Source: http://latintrade.com/2011/03/rio-de-janeiro-means-business, march 2011.
Questions:
1. Locate precisely Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and identify its official status.
Rio is situated around the huge natural harbour of Guanabara Bay, in southeast Brazil, and occupies an area
of 1 182.3 square kilometre. The city is squeezed into a narrow strip of land between the coastline and a
steep range of forested mountains; miles of sandy beaches and coastal lagoons are overlooked by very steep
mountains including Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Corcovado, which rises to over 700 metres. The
Corcovado is world famous for its Sugar Loaf Mountain, on top of which is found the 40 m high statue of
Christ the Redeemer, overlooking the city.
Rio de Janeiro became Brazil’s capital in 1763 for almost 2 centuries, until the federal government shifted
its headquarters to Brasilia in 1960.
2. Prove that Rio possesses the function of a global city.
Rio is a major economic hub in Brazil and South America, and is estimated as one of the city with a very
large amount of opportunities in the future, allowing it to be more and more powerful on the international
scale in the future decades. It’s the 2nd most powerful city in Brazil on the economic domain after São Paulo
which is home to the country’s banking sector, the stock exchange and many corporate headquarters. But
Rio de Janeiro as many assets:
- It possesses the 2nd Brazilian stock exchange, the Bolsa de Valores de Rio de Janeiro which is now
trading in government bonds and currencies
- It has an important concentration of wealth : the estimated Gross Metropolitan Product of Rio
reached about $ 195 B in 2012 – it represents 45% of general state GDP.
- Rio concentrates TNCs, but essentially Brazilians. In Rio are found the headquarters of 2 of the 8
Brazilian companies listed by Fortune in its top world 500 companies. Compared to São Paulo which
concentrates 4 of these companies, it seems to be less important, but those in Rio are the 2 leading
Brazilian TNCs, the oil company Petrobas, which ranks 23" in the world, and the mining company
Vale which, even though ranking only 159, is the second largest mining company in the world (after
the Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton).
- The city plays a key role in international trade, especially for iron ore, oil and steel
- The City is also involved in oil production, especially after the recent discovery in 2007 in the
Campos basin of massive offshore oil deposits that will enable Brazil to compete at world level,
doing about as well as Venezuela.
Rio’s diplomatic influence is growing internationally, as illustrate the two Earth summits organised there, in
1992 and 2012 that widely echoed in the world. BRICS, such as Brazil, played a determining role in it.
Rio's worldwide cultural power is illustrated by various elements:
- Rio is an important city because of the fame and attractiveness of its natural and cultural sites or
events : sunny features, beautiful scenery, beaches as famous as Ipanema, Copacobana..., the Sugar
Loaf Mountain and its statue of Christ the Redeemer, its carnival, all these contribute to attract many
international and continental tourists. According to the Brazilian Tourism Ministry, about 1 M in
2009-2010, i.e. 20% of all overseas visitors to Brazil – but national tourists account for 60% of its
tourist total.
- Rio will be a stage for the World Soccer Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympic games in 2016: the
Federal government foresees investments to develop transportation means and hospitality
infrastructures (17 new hotels from 2011 to 2014) due to the high number of expected visitors (at
least 500 000). Moreover, some infrastructures such as stadium seen in the video are already built.
Moreover, the army and the government have begun since 2011 actions in the favelas (Rio’s slums)
in order to take power back in there against drug trafficking clans.
3. Prove that Rio is increasing its attraction in global economy.
Rio is developing new sectors of activities and trying to be very and more implemented in the world
oligopoly by developing its assets such as in oil production or trade. For that, it’s developing infrastructures
and connections to the world networks. Rio is opened and connected to the world thanks to international
transportation network and infrastructures. Indeed, Rio developed its port. It is Brazil’s 3rd busiest port in
terms of cargo (capacity for storing 13 000 tons with its 10 external warehouses), and the centre for cruise
vessels. Its total trade reaches $ 13 billions in 2008, and concerns mainly sugar, iron, steel products,
chemicals, containers... But, Sepetiba isn’t one of the most important container ports in the world, being
only at the 37st place in the container port rank in 2011 by metric ton but it isn’t in the first 100 ports in
20-TEU.
Rio has two airports: a domestic, Santos Dumont and an international, Tom Jobim, so-called Galeão
International Airport. The latter has seen its passenger traffic multiplied by 1.5 between 2005 and 2010, but
it is not in the first 30 airporst by passengers handle in the world.
Rio’s economy relies mainly on all sectors of activities:
- Rio produces many plantation products such as sugar and citrus fruits. The agribusiness represents a
share of 25% of Brazil’s GDP
- Rio comes second in the industrial sector, especially in telecommunications with telecom
corporations like Oi and Embratel and hydrocarbon production. Rio has attracted many oil
companies with the discovery of oil in the Campos basin, among them Petrobas the Brazilian oil
firm.
- The service sector is dominated by the banking sector. Rio’s stock exchange Bolsa da Valores is the
second most dynamic stock market in Brazil. Tourism has played a major role in Rio’s economy
because of Rio’s natural and cultural assets. The world famous carnivals, beaches and the ecological
beauty of Rio attract thousands of tourists from all over the world. 67% of the city’s GDP is related
to tourism business. Moreover, as you can see on the video, Rio is a one of the most famous cruise
stop in the cruise circuits.
4. Prove that Rio is developing its visibility on the world governance.
Rio is developing its visibility on the world governance by the participation and the organisation of world
event linked to the world governance such as the Earth Summits. These summits of 1992 and 2012 group a
large number of countries from all over the world and there were taken decisions about the importance and
the future of world sustainable development policies and organisations. Indeed, in 1992, were adopted the
principle of the Agenda 21 for the protection of Earth for example. However, Rio is not one of the most
influential cities in the world governance whatever the results of the Earth summits were.
5. Prove that Rio tries to be more visible on the international scene.
Rio tries to be more visible by organising international events such as the football cup in 2014 and the
Olympic Games in 2016. The objective is to be a part of the world culture, but moreover to change the
image of violence and danger that concerns Rio in the mind of many people all over the world. The
organisation of international governance summit is also a way to appear as a leader of the emerging world,
side by side with Russia and China.
6. Explain that Rio is emerging as a global city but that it has to face many stakes and challenges.
In Rio, and in Brazilian society in general, whites are better off economically and enjoy more privilege. Rio
is concerned by a very large socio-spatial segregation:
- Most whites live in the wealthier enclaves of Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon, or in wealthy coastal
suburbs such as Jacarepagua and Barra de Tijuca, to the Southwest of the city. Barra has many
luxury apartment blocks, shopping malls, recreational and tourist facilities such as hotels, restaurants
and theme parks. New motorways connect this area with the rest of the city.
- Most blacks and other ethnic groups live in the favelas that surround the city, such as Roçinha, which
is Rio’s largest and oldest favela with an estimated population of 150,000 inhabitants. This area of
slum housing is found on a very steep hillside in the South Zone of Rio. Its 1st shacks were built in
the 1940s, but the main growth took place during the 1970s-1980s with the construction of the
nearby wealthy suburb of Barra, attracting migrants with the prospect of jobs in the construction
industry. Dwellers pile up in horrid living conditions, and violence is common due to the presence of
drug smuggling gangs. In 2011, the army takes control back on that favela with tanks and
commandos in order to stop drug smuggling gangs and find a way to protect people from the favelas
and also tourists in the objective of the Football Cup and the Olympic games.
Some of Rio’s major challenges and stakes are social and environmental:
- social, because of the strong gap within the population, whether it be in terms of social classes or
races (or both). Efforts have already be done, in clearing out the favelas so as to guarantee security
for visitors, staffs... by 2014 (for the World Cup) and 2016 (for the coming Olympic Games) –
government officials sent federal troops into one of the city’s largest favelas to clear out the gang
members and restore order. So far, the measure have shown promiseSuch measures have been
accompanied by a social policy of improvement of favela dwellers’ living conditions, for instance
creating sewerage systems and other sanitation infrastructures. Despite all this, Brazil, and Rio’s
society as well, remains one of the most unequal societies in the world
- environmental : Rio suffered from pollution due to the traffic but also to the fact that many favelas
weren’t well connected to sanitation systems.
Plus Rio has to face economic stake and has to try to recover its leadership, lost in the 1990s to the
benefit of São Paulo.
C. From controlling the world to attempting to play a major role, comparison of two global cities
of different level
Questions:
1. Compare the hard power of both cities
NYC’s hard power is more developed than Rio’s. Indeed, as the headquarters of the UN and as the 1st
economic power of the 1st superpower in the world, NYC is one of the main impulse centers from the world
oligopoly. It’s also the headquarters of the most important organisation of the world diplomacy in order to
maintain peace, the UNO. NYC is more visible in the world governance than Rio which only the 2nd urban
power in Brazil and an emerging city from the world oligopoly, even if some important Brazilian TNCs
have their headquarters there and if those companies are able to challenge the western TNCs.
2. Compare the soft power of both cities
NYC soft power is more developed than the one of Rio even if both are very famous tourist places that
attract a lot of people but for different reasons. Tourism in Rio is based on heliotropism and seaside tourism,
or tourism for the carnival whereas NYC has international museums and international leading universities
attracting brains from all over the planet, even from Brazil.
3. Compare weaknesses of both cities
Both cities are touched by socio-spatial segregation and, even if some districts in NYC have become
“ghettos”, it’s far different from Rio’s favelas. Both cities are touched by social inequalities but the
international crisis seems to have much more touched NYC than Rio, which, as a city from a emerging
country continue to have a very important growth whereas NYC’s economy seem to have slowed down a bit
since the past two years. But poverty is less developed in NYC than in Rio where more than 300, 000 of
people live in slums.
4. Explain that these two global cities are the mirror of their respective countries’ power.
Both cities’ powers are also linked to their own country power, even if some geographers says that global
cities are less connected to their own countries than to each other. Anyway, it is clear that being the most
powerful global city of the 1st world economic power gives more power to NYC in the world, more visibility
and more representation in the world governance. But, emerging countries, as Brazil belongs to, are more
and more powerful and challenge the member of the Triad and of developed countries because of the more
and more important power of their TNCs, their important growth which more than 5% each year – less than
1 % for the developed countries in the meantime – and because of their more important leadership and
recognition in international organisation and international events as Brazil shows it by challenging the USA
and the European Union on the question of granting funds to farmers from the North of the WTO or by
being one of the leaders of the BRICS7 and one of the member of the G20.
5. Show that domination of both global cities is far from equal but that Rio is emerging whereas New York
is trying to consolidate its power and face competition.
Both cities are member of the world oligopoly but NYC is much more powerful than Rio. But, many cities
are emerging on the world scale, trying to attract more and more TNCs, international events and be visible
on the international scene. Rio is one of them, even if São Paulo in Brazil is more developed and more
competitive. However, the place it tries to obtain on the world events and world governance shows that
Brazil doesn’t only to be some exotic place dedicated to industry and agriculture but an impulse center on
the world.
7
Sign invented by James O’Neill to talk about the emerging or remerging countries : Brazil, Russia, India, China and South
Africa.
NYC in the meantime has to develop its competition and continue to be the leader of the world. For that, it
has to attract more and more TNCs, to remain the center of the capitalisation of financial flows and to
continue to be a reference on culture by spreading the American way of life all over the world. It also has to
face the aftermaths of the world economic crisis, with the huge gap growing between social classes and
locations inside the city.