Cities in the developing world

TLDR

Rapid urbanization in the developing world creates cities that offer economic opportunities while simultaneously facing civic, economic, and social challenges, exemplified by Bangalore’s role as a global software hub intertwined with local poverty and inequality. The study investigates the challenges arising from Bangalore’s position as a nexus linking global and local exchange networks. The authors analyze two contrasting Bangalore networks—the high‑tech software firm enclave and the marginalized slum dwellers—to illustrate global–local duality. The analysis reveals substantial similarities between the global software network and the local slum network, highlighting shared dynamics.

Abstract

Notes how rapid urbanization is transforming the developing world – creating cities, which on the one hand offer opportunities for global economic activity, but on the other hand are beset with serious local civic, economic and social problems. New networks based on information and communication technologies are increasingly being woven into the fabric of these cities supporting the connectedness of powerful groups both within the city and between cities around the world. These flows of global information and communication between powerful groups in the city involved in global economic activity coexist with intense face‐to‐face interactions at the local level. Bangalore in South India presents a major case study of this global/local interaction, being a focal point for software development in the Asian region and globally, but also beset with local problems of civic deficiencies, growing poverty and income inequality. Explores some of the issues which arise as Bangalore serves as a nexus that links global and local networks of exchange. Examines two Bangalore networks which typify global and local duality: the network of software firms located in high technology enclaves in and around the city, and the ostracised network of the slum dwellers of Bangalore, gradually being brought into mainstream discussions of governance in the city. Finds considerable similarities between global networks and local networks and outlines some of these dynamics.