World cities
Dominance and dependence
Changing role of regional centres
Demise of the small town
Dominance and dependence


The relationship of
dominance and dependence
could be said to belong to the
interaction between world
cities and the other urban
centres in proximity to them.
World cities, whether they be
characterised as dominant,
major or secondary, are sites
of world accumulation.
Dominance and dependence



Technological dominance
and innovation
Financial dominance in the
production and distribution
of goods and services on a
global scale.
The cultural influence that
arises from world cities is
widespread, as is the level of
strategic decision making.
Dominance and dependence





Urban centres on the other hand,
have functions that show
dependence on the world cities.
Accumulation and the production
and distribution is only on the
national scale
Technology is often adopted, as
there is a relatively lower degree of
research and development.
A limited cultural influence with
some political control.
Eg Perth’s financial system is
dependent on Sydney Head
Offices.
Dominance and dependence



The hierarchy of world cities
indicates that there is a level of
dominance emulating from New
York, London, Paris and Tokyo
over the other world cities.
They have a disproportionate
concentration of top-level
headquarters of the financial,
industrial, commercial and
producer service sectors.
Many of the large industrial TNCs
that account for nearly 70% of the
international trade are
headquartered in these cities.
Dominance and dependence



The massive expansion of the
global financial industry over the
last 20 years has greatly increased
the global significance of London,
New York and Tokyo.
The main financial transactions in
shares, bonds, loans and foreign
currency are dominated by these
three cities.
Together with Los Angeles,
Frankfurt and Hong Kong they
provide a 24-hours-a-day global
coverage of financial transactions.
Dominance and dependence



Dominance and dependence
also exists between world
cities and other urban
centres.
An example of this is
Sydney’s role in contrast to
the other Australian cities.
Sydney, as a major world city
has 27 head office locations
for Australia’s 50 largest
corporations.
Dominance and dependence



Melbourne comprises 16 of
these, while Brisbane, Perth
and Adelaide have less than
three in their respective cities.
Sydney is the principal centre
for smaller, Australiancontrolled businesses.
Nearly half of these have
grown through national
mergers and takeovers.
Dominance and dependence


Sydney is the principal financial
centre as countries like Japan
prefer to locate trading, marketing
and financial companies there.
Although Melbourne dominates in
the areas of manufacturing and
mining, Sydney is the dominant
link to the global economy as it
represents a more recent period of
capital accumulation associated
with economic globalisation,
especially in the financial sector.
Dominance and dependence





The other urban centres that are also state
capitals only play minor roles in national
production let alone global accumulation.
Cities like Brisbane, Darwin, Adelaide,
Hobart, and Perth have functions that have
been largely absorbed into Sydney and to a
lesser extent Melbourne through corporate
takeovers.
These urban centres operate at an intrastate
level of networking within Australia’s federal
administrative structure.
Further dominance would be exerted from
Sydney over nearby urban centres like
Newcastle and Wollongong.
These relationships of dominance and
dependence occur on a global scale and
these roles are even more pronounced when
the country has a greater number of urban
centres and world cities that surround a
dominant world city.
Dominance and dependence



The United States presents clear trends
of dominance and dependence
whereby New York, with a group of
world cities dependent on it, especially
for financial transactions.
Major world cities include Chicago, San
Francisco, Miami, Boston and Los
Angeles. Clustered around these world
cities are the urban centres that have
dependent relationships with their
nearby world cities.
In the case of Chicago, dependent
urban places in close proximity include
Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Indianapolis,
St. Louis and Kansas City.
Dominance and dependence



The United Kingdom: London acts
as a centre of dependence for other
major cities across the nation
especially for financial transactions.
Cities such as Birmingham,
Newcastle and Manchester rely on
London for a variety of needs and
allow them to subsequently be
linked into the global network.
Clustered around these major cities
are the urban centers that have
dependent relationship with their
closest major city. Eg Manchester dependent urban places in close
proximity include Liverpool,
Chester, Preston and Stockport.
Rural trends


There have been changes in
the relative significance of
settlements in rural areas at a
regional and local level.
Overall, countries like
Canada, the United States
and Australia have witnessed
the growth of regional
centres with a corresponding
decline in population and
economic activity throughout
the surrounding small towns.
Urban systems / metropolitan areas




Urban systems comprise of the
national city (eg. Sydney, Brisbane
and Melbourne) that have a
complex set of functions.
These include wholesaling,
retailing, manufacturing, finance
and corporate management,
education, entertainment and
health services.
Metropolitan areas perform these
functions for smaller urban places
and rural areas in their general
vicinity.
These metropolitan hinterlands
vary greatly in size and shape
depending on the type of services
provided.
Regional centres




Further down the hierarchy are
regional centres.
In New South Wales, regional
centres are defined as having
populations of 11,000 to about
50,000.
These centres perform a smaller
amount of functions and these
relate closely to the functions of
each settlement.
In the case of Sydney, regional
centres would include Newcastle,
Wollongong, Bathurst, Lismore,
Tamworth and Dubbo.
Small towns


Below these in the hierarchy
are the small hinterland
towns with populations of
less than 11,000 people.
Taking the regional centre of
Dubbo, among the many
small hinterland towns would
be Wellington, Nyngan,
Bourke, Warren, Peak Hill
and Dunedoo.
Growth and decline


The trends of growth
and decline are evident in
the Dubbo district’s
population changes.
From the period 1976 to
1997, the Dubbo district
grew by 56.5%, while
Wellington and Warren
decreased by 9.0% and
17.4% respectively over
the same period.
Growth and decline


The population of Dubbo
grew from 28,064 to 30,102
between 1991 and 1996 and
in 2003 grew again to reach
38,937; while Wellington
went from 8648 in 1996 to
8142 in 2004 and Warren
from 1,909 to 1786 over the
same period.
The same decline may be said
for Bourke, Dunedoo and
Nyngan.
Question

Why do you think small
towns are in decline
while regional centres
increase?
Reasons for small town decline



An account of these trends can be
attributed to a complex set of
factors that differ in each region.
However, a common range of
causes may begin with the recent
developments in transport and
communications making it difficult
for small towns to survive.
Business services are more
centralised and this has cascaded
through the whole urban system
from the national to the local
levels.
Reasons for small town decline


For example, the widespread use of
cars and the construction of sealed
roads after 1960 in Dubbo has
made it easier for people to travel
longer distances to purchase from a
wider variety of cheaper goods and
services from regional centres
instead of the local small town.
A similar effect is in the rapid
development in
telecommunications (eg. ecommerce) and the possibility for
people in rural areas to purchase
goods globally.
Reasons for small town decline


The result at the local level is
the decline, demise even of
towns, and certainly a
marked reduction in services
that are no longer economic
in a competitive business
environment.
Regional centres absorb the
decline in the population and
activities of the smaller local
centres.
Reasons for small town decline



The economic restructuring in
both the private and public sector
has allowed the regional centres to
become increasingly competitive in
the primary and secondary
industries (eg. food processing and
the supply of frozen meat).
This is not just on the national
scale but also on the world market
in terms of exporting success.
The encouragement of economies
of scale through lower operating
and land costs has seen many
businesses prosper in centres like
Wagga Wagga.
Reasons for small town decline


Retailing has also
restructured with the growth
of large regional shopping
centres to the demise of the
local, small town retailer.
Public restructuring and the
adoption of economic
rationalism as a result of
fiscal restraint have seen the
rationalisation and
centralisation of government
services in the regional
centres.
Reasons for small town decline




It is well known that returns
on agricultural production
have reduced rural incomes
relative to those families
from the cities.
As a result, some 431 centres
with populations less than
4,000 will struggle to survive.
Many of these towns are
losing the infrastructure
necessary to maintain a viable
community.
Drought has also been a
major push factor from small
towns.
Reasons for small town decline


Between 1981 and 1998,
more than a quarter of
the bank branches in
rural NSW were closed.
More recently the ABC
reported last year that St
George has planned to
close up to 84% of its
rural banking over the
counter firms.
Responses


One response has been the
development of Elders rural bank
has now establish 400 over the
counter branches in 3 years and
over 200 through Bendigo Bank
across Australia.
At a joint conference in Adelaide
between government officials and
representatives of Rural Bank,
Senator Chapman announced the
success of both Elders Rural and
Bendigo Bank in assisting with the
development of community
services and infrastructure in small
rural towns.
Responses




Another response to decline by
communities and local councils is
the diversification in the economic
base of the small town.
The Carrathool Shire Region has
towns like Leeton and Ivanhoe and
these have actively invested in
infrastructure that would further
promote tourism, especially
Japanese tourists who seek a rural
setting.
The income from tourism helps to
act as a safety net during periods of
poor agricultural returns.
This approach is important as
thousands of jobs in agriculture are
lost each year.