Global Cities: Urban Environments in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China

How Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China deal with such urban environmental issues as ports, goods movement, air pollution, water quality, transportation, and public space.

Over the past four decades, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and key urban regions of China have emerged as global cities—in financial, political, cultural, environmental, and demographic terms. In this book, Robert Gottlieb and Simon Ng trace the global emergence of these urban areas and compare their responses to a set of six urban environmental issues.

These cities have different patterns of development: Los Angeles has been the quintessential horizontal city, the capital of sprawl; Hong Kong is dense and vertical; China's new megacities in the Pearl River Delta, created by an explosion in industrial development and a vast migration from rural to urban areas, combine the vertical and the horizontal. All three have experienced major environmental changes in a relatively short period of time. Gottlieb and Ng document how each has dealt with challenges posed by ports and the movement of goods, air pollution (Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and urban China are all notorious for their hazardous air quality), water supply (all three places are dependent on massive transfers of water) and water quality, the food system (from seed to table), transportation, and public and private space. Finally they discuss the possibility of change brought about by policy initiatives and social movements.

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Global Cities: Urban Environments in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China

How Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China deal with such urban environmental issues as ports, goods movement, air pollution, water quality, transportation, and public space.

Over the past four decades, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and key urban regions of China have emerged as global cities—in financial, political, cultural, environmental, and demographic terms. In this book, Robert Gottlieb and Simon Ng trace the global emergence of these urban areas and compare their responses to a set of six urban environmental issues.

These cities have different patterns of development: Los Angeles has been the quintessential horizontal city, the capital of sprawl; Hong Kong is dense and vertical; China's new megacities in the Pearl River Delta, created by an explosion in industrial development and a vast migration from rural to urban areas, combine the vertical and the horizontal. All three have experienced major environmental changes in a relatively short period of time. Gottlieb and Ng document how each has dealt with challenges posed by ports and the movement of goods, air pollution (Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and urban China are all notorious for their hazardous air quality), water supply (all three places are dependent on massive transfers of water) and water quality, the food system (from seed to table), transportation, and public and private space. Finally they discuss the possibility of change brought about by policy initiatives and social movements.

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Global Cities: Urban Environments in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China

Global Cities: Urban Environments in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China

Global Cities: Urban Environments in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China

Global Cities: Urban Environments in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China

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Overview

How Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and China deal with such urban environmental issues as ports, goods movement, air pollution, water quality, transportation, and public space.

Over the past four decades, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and key urban regions of China have emerged as global cities—in financial, political, cultural, environmental, and demographic terms. In this book, Robert Gottlieb and Simon Ng trace the global emergence of these urban areas and compare their responses to a set of six urban environmental issues.

These cities have different patterns of development: Los Angeles has been the quintessential horizontal city, the capital of sprawl; Hong Kong is dense and vertical; China's new megacities in the Pearl River Delta, created by an explosion in industrial development and a vast migration from rural to urban areas, combine the vertical and the horizontal. All three have experienced major environmental changes in a relatively short period of time. Gottlieb and Ng document how each has dealt with challenges posed by ports and the movement of goods, air pollution (Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and urban China are all notorious for their hazardous air quality), water supply (all three places are dependent on massive transfers of water) and water quality, the food system (from seed to table), transportation, and public and private space. Finally they discuss the possibility of change brought about by policy initiatives and social movements.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780262035910
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication date: 05/19/2017
Series: Urban and Industrial Environments
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 472
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Robert Gottlieb is Emeritus Professor of Urban & Environmental Policy and founder and former Director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College. He is the author of Reinventing Los Angeles: Nature and Community in the Global City (MIT Press) and other books.

Simon Ng is an independent consultant and former Chief Research Officer at Civic Exchange, a public policy think tank in Hong Kong.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Maps xv

1 Moving Forward Together: An Introduction 1

Global City Connections 1

World Cities/Global Regions 5

Development and Change: Los Angeles 7

Development and Change: Hong Kong 11

The Connection to China 16

Comparisons and Contrasts 19

Regional Geographies 21

The Structure of the Book 23

2 The Global Goods Movement System 25

A Doll's Journey 25

The Goods Movement System 28

Hong Kong 28

Los Angeles 32

Impacts 37

Hong Kong 37

Los Angeles 40

The Connection to China 45

Strategies for Change 49

3 Breathing Air 61

Selling Air 61

Discovering Air Pollution 66

Los Angeles 66

Hong Kong 72

Sources and impacts 76

Los Angeles 76

Hong Kong 80

The Connection to China 84

Strategies for Change 90

4 Water for the City 97

Along the River 97

Water Supply 101

Los Angeles 101

Hong Kong 110

Water Quality 114

Los Angeles 114

Hong Kong 118

The Connection to China 119

Strategies for Change 123

5 The Food Environment 129

Tyson, Chicken Paws, and School Food 129

Crowing Food 131

Los Angeles 131

Hong Kong 134

Food Retail 137

Los Angeles 137

Hong Kong 141

Eating Food 143

Los Angeles 143

Hong Kong 146

The Connection to China 148

Strategies for Change 155

6 Transportation in the City 165

Crossing Streets 165

Evolving Systems 168

Hong Kong 168

Los Angeles 175

Impacts 181

Hong Kong 181

Los Angeles 184

The Connection to China 187

Strategies for Change 196

7 Spaces of the City 205

Occupying Spaces 205

Evolving Spaces 208

Hong Kong 208

Los Angeles 212

Privatizing Spaces 216

Hong Kong 216

Los Angeles 221

Streets and Sidewalk Spaces 224

Hong Kong 224

Los Angeles 226

Water Spaces 229

Hong Kong 229

Los Angeles 232

The Connection to China 234

Strategies for Change 238

8 Social Movements and Policy Change 245

Making Change Happen 245

Change from Below 252

A "Right to the City": A Conclusion 262

Notes 265

Bibliography 343

Index 413

What People are Saying About This

Christine Loh

Hong Kong and Los Angeles cannot be more different. The former is an example of extreme density living while the latter is one of urban sprawl. However, they can learn much from each other. This useful book provides histories, contexts, and solutions for cities and regions to make more sustainable choices—an urgent task for all as the world faces challenges in improving livability and fighting climate change.

Mary Nichols

Global Cities is a richly detailed exploration of the ways environmental policyand urban planning often fail (with occasional exceptions) to work together, to the detriment of cities and the people who live in them. It is a unique and valuable reference for any serious lover of urban history, as well as a likely textbook for environmental planners.

Peter Brimblecombe

The book's strength is the story it tells, weaving arguments about two great cities with different regulations and practices.

Endorsement

The book's strength is the story it tells, weaving arguments about two great cities with different regulations and practices.

Peter Brimblecombe, Associate Dean and Chair Professor of Environmental Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong; author of The Big Smoke

From the Publisher

Hong Kong and Los Angeles cannot be more different. The former is an example of extreme density living while the latter is one of urban sprawl. However, they can learn much from each other. This useful book provides histories, contexts, and solutions for cities and regions to make more sustainable choices—an urgent task for all as the world faces challenges in improving livability and fighting climate change.

Christine Loh, Under Secretary for the Environment, HKSAR Government (2012-2017)

Global Cities is a richly detailed exploration of the ways environmental policy and urban planning often fail (with occasional exceptions) to work together, to the detriment of cities and the people who live in them. It is a unique and valuable reference for any serious lover of urban history, as well as a likely textbook for environmental planners.

Mary Nichols, Chair, California Air Resources Board

The book's strength is the story it tells, weaving arguments about two great cities with different regulations and practices.

Peter Brimblecombe, Associate Dean and Chair Professor of Environmental Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong; author of The Big Smoke

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