Cosmopolization in an Expanding and Contracting Universe: integration and exclusion in urban network of the developing world

Abstract

Globalization restructured the relations between cities with implications for the whole planet. The formation of leading world cities, named Cosmopolis from a postmodern perspective, is the utmost expression of global development, particularly in economically dynamic countries. The paper presents some observations that consider the impacts of this process in urban networks, the emergence of large centers of global expression and new configurations of urban networks around the world. After that, we seek to explore aspects of the integration of urban networks in developing countries in the global system of cities. Urban networks in the developing world, generally more fragile and less dynamic in comparison to the more developed portions of the globe, revealing theco-existence of different patterns of articulation often marked by fluidity and connectivity, and sometimes marked by roughness and by the exclusion. Although metropolitan areas and urban agglomerations in developing countries have increasingly presented characteristics similar to the world’s most dynamic cities, it must be emphasized that the word Cosmopolis does not seem entirely fit to describe cities like São Paulo, Mexico City, Mumbai, or Buenos Aires. In that sense, it seems more appropriate to think of cosmopolization, as opposed to Cosmopolis, placing the focus on the process in course, which may reveal much more about the urban reality that is being shaped in those countries than confound it with the socio spatial reality found in central countries. Cities in globalization, or in cosmopolization, will not become cities exactly like the current command centers of the global economy. In studies about globalization, the processes that conduct the increased participation of cities on a global scale should dialogue with regional and local specificities around the world.