world cities vs megacities (1 Viewer)

[Michiru]

hey pplz, i have trouble with distinguishing the differences between a world city and a megacity.

a world city can have a population over 10 million, as well as enviornmental and social problems, not to mention economic polarity...so then..how is it different to megacities?!???

so confused >_<

 

[midnight]

A mega city is defined as an urban agglomeration with a population of 8+ million people? And a world city definition goes on for like a page...
The population of a world city is irrelevant. Sydney is on 'the list', so to speak, and we don't have a large population.
Only a few world cities are mega cities.

The main point is that mega cities are characterised by large populations, and there may be challenges when you live in one [London/New York are mega cities but obviously most people are better off there than in Mexico City], and world cities have important functions.

It's more of a 'contrast' than a 'compare' situation. Don't make assumptions.

 

[addict]

Aronaut is right. i'm still using this now at uni, so dont discard all the seemingly usless info you gather from the hsc, my course is focusing on globalisation and world cities, spec syd. geo is awesome

 

[zenger69]

I thought there were only four world cities:
-London
-New York
-Tokyo
-Paris

I don't think Sydney is classified as a World City, maybe a major city? but i could be wrong.

 

[midnight]

London, Tokyo and New York are the three main world cities. [People debate about whether Paris is one or not]

There are different 'categories' of world cities though. And there's subsystems. Sydney isn't a main one, but it is still one. Same with places like Chicago, Osaka, Sao Paolo, Paris, Singapore...
Different text books list different examples.

 

[zenger69]

true.

The Macquarie HSC guide and MacMillan have Paris as a major city on the same rank as Sydney.

Whilst Heinnemann has Paris as one of the four world cities.

I guess in an exam I'd say all four, but make a mention that Paris is a debatable world city.
I believe it's only considered a world city in Heinnemann is because it is the most popular tourist destination in the world.

 

[midnight]

What I meant was that in one of our books there was a system where London, Tokyo and NY were ranked 1, other cities were ranked 2 [like Paris] and cities like Sydney were ranked 3. So in effect they are all world cities, but their importance differs.
So Paris isn't a debatable world city, it is a world city - but is it on the same level as London etc.

 

[still waiting]

isnt generally paris accepted as being on the second level of world cities not up with london tokyo and new york because of trade and economic flows etc
well thats what i thought anyways

 

[heart]

I don't think Sydney is called a 'world city' but rather a 'secondary world city'

 

[Michiru]

you know, the other thing is, tokyo is also debatable on world city status...i mean..economically yea sure...but culturally? hmm...

the other cities boasts about it's multiculture and all that, and look at tokyo, it's almost a monoculture

and on the fashion scene...all i can think of are harajuku girls

 

[addict]

sydney is a world city, its up to you if you want to call it 'secondary' or not, its not really that important an issue. the major world cities are tokyo, new york and london mainly one for each major region (brittan and europe, asia and the pacific and america). the paris thing does depend on the author, but that also is not all the most important thing to be worried about, you can mention that if you want to so not. sydney is the main world city for australia, new zealand and the pacific islands, connecting each of the contries to the world network. having all the little details are handy and do add marks IF used appropriately so know why and how the extra facts fit in.

the 3 major ones help to link the minor ones in their region. we had this whole thing going with 3 major hubs centred at tokyo, new york and london.

michiru, the culture isnt the defining factor of world cities, its the economics, connectiveness with the global market etc. tokyo definately has that.

still waiting, i think you're correct on that, i can't quite remember but it sounds right, you seem to have the idea.

zenger69, paris is a world city, and quite an important one at that. dont confuse the idea that the 3 major ones are the only world cities, i think this is what you are doing.