Economic Restructuring and the Information City present
Historical Context 1973 Oil Embargo “Stagflation” – economic slowdown w/ price inflation Shift from Keynesian policies
OPEC & Economy Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Yom Kippur War – October 1973 Impact on industry & areas of American life
Rationing
Auto Industry
Economic Restructuring
Schlitz Park
Diversion of Investments From primary sector (industrial production) To secondary sectors (capital investment) Or – tertiary sectors (education or technology research)
Winners & Losers Big Winners – speculative commercial development & technology research Losers – industrial production
Houston
Permissive or enabling technologies A. Production process technologies: electronically controlled assembly lines; robotics; automated sewing systems B. Transaction technologies: computer-based just-in-time inventory; eliminate need for larger buffer stock C. Circulation technologies: communication satellites, fiber-optic networks, microwave communication, FAX machines
Production & Consumption
Geographic Implications Technology provides increased opportunity to take advantage of spatial variations in costs of land and labor due to separability & flexibility Wider geographic market to an increasing range of business activities
Tiger Economies & Silicon Places
“Informational City” Development of new international & intermetropolitan divisions of labor Degree to which cities are “hooked in” define status “spaces of flows” versus “space of relative locations”
World Cities Hierarchy Global Cities – London, New York, Tokyo World City – cities at the center of “spaces of flows” Regional command & control centers Specialized producer – service centers Dependent centers
Hierarchy
Demographic & Social Change Baby Boomers: Household formation; affordability crisis The Elderly: – over 60 population increased from 9.2% to 12.4% New Immigration: abolition of quotas in 1965; immigrants account for nearly 1/3 in growth of urban system in 1980s
Baby Boomers
Elderly
New Immigrants