PERFILES DE CIUDADES DEL MUNDO

Tokyo, Japan
Known as Edo until 1868, Tokyo is a coastal city with an intricate history. In 1457, Edo Castle was constructed and in 1603 it became the seat of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Under the Tokugawas, the city was constructed in order to profit from the natural waterways that serve as transportation canals. By the early 1700's, the population of Tokyo was already estimated at 1.2 million, while the population of London and Paris was 650,000 and 500,000 respectively. In 1868, with the overthrow of the Tokugawas and the beginning of the Meiji era, Edo became capital of Japan under a new name, Tokyo, which means "Capital of the East". At the beginning of the Second World War, after intensive modernization, Tokyo had a population of 7.4 million, despite the Great Earthquake of 1923. In 1950 the population was 6.9 million and doubled to 16.5 million in 1970. In 1995, the estimated population of the urban agglomeration was 26.8 million. Tokyo has a concentration of light manufacturing but also produces goods which require a sizable workforce, such as electrical products, cameras and automobiles. Most establishments, however, are small shops with fewer than 30 workers. Tokyo serves as a wholesaling and distribution centre for surrounding areas, and is also the chief financial centre of Japan. Tokyo houses many domestic and international corporate headquarters. After the Second World War, Tokyo experienced a large housing demand which it could not satisfy. The 1970's and 1980's witnessed a surge in construction of multistory condominiums intended for sale. However, the prices soared making them inaccessible and unable to meet the needs of the city. Though Tokyo, like other major cities, suffers from traffic congestion, the main congestion is on the public system during peak hours. The major method of transportation in Tokyo is the dense network of electric railways, subways, and bus lines, which keeps pollution from cars relatively low. Water is supplied by aqueduct systems to the metropolitan area. Local waterworks and private industrial and residential systems supplement the municipal water supply. The main sources of water are the Tama and Tone-Edo rivers and three reservoirs. However, in order to meet increasing demand, additional dams have been built on nearby rivers, which is causing the eastern lowlands area to subside. The rapid growth of the metropolitan area stressed the sewage system which in turn resulted in

the decrease of water quality. However, since the 1960's, sewage systems have improved and refuse is now incinerated, recycled or reused. Periodically, there have been proposals to relocate the nation's capital away from Tokyo in an effort to decentralize. However, to date none have come close to implementation.

New York City, United States

New York is a major business, cultural and retail center in the United States and a leading world center for trade and finance. It is a unique city that attracts visitors and immigrants from allover the world. Its population in 1995 reached 16.3 million and it currently has a positive annual growth rate of 0.3%. Its population has not grown constantly, however. The population reached 16.2 million in 1970 and then declined to 15.6 in 1980. It was only after 1980 that the population began to grow again. Finance, insurance and real estate have been the largest contributors to the city's economy. While it is a strong financial centre, unemployment can sometimes reach high peaks, as in 1985 when over half the region's residents were unemployed. With sky-high prices, housing is a serious problem in the central city. Estimates of the number of homeless in Manhattan alone run as high as 90,000. Waste is another serious problem. New York City generates 23,600 metric tons of waste every day. The problem is in its disposal. Environmental problems have made the city reconsider its waste disposal system which consisted of 8 incinerators to burn waste and 11 landfill sites in which to dump them. Now most of the disposal takes place in a few major dump sites, including the massive (1,214 hectares) Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island. The question remains, where will the waste go after that site is full and closed?

London, United Kingdom

In 1086, twenty years after the battle of Hastings, the population of London was 18,000 and grew to over 1 million by the time of the census of 1801 and then to 9.1 million in 1960. Like many other Western industrialized cities, London has experienced an absolute population decline in the central city, with people moving out to the suburbs. London, the thriving capital of Great Britain, lies astride the river Thames. It was founded by the Romans as Londonium and by the time of the Norman conquest in 1066 had become an important political city. Once the industrial commercial and political center of a wealthy and extensive empire, London today continues to be the largest port and the leading center of international trade, finance and culture in the United Kingdom. Like many large cities world wide, London has its share of problems: overcrowding, unemployment and homelessness being some of the main ones. In 1988, for example, nearly 1 in 8 people were unemployed throughout London and the situation in the inner city was worst. Transportation is another problem. However, an excellent public system has helped to alleviate some of this. The city is famous today for its parks and gardens, and is also a cultural haven for the world. Museums, galleries and theaters abound throughout the city and this, together with its beauty, make London a popular tourist attraction. Severe social problems do exist in the inner city but have been aided by special programmes aimed at inner city regenration. These programmes have met with only limited success despite the considerable financial resources devoted to them. Conditions in such areas have not improved while in some areas they have actually worsened. More successful has been the government's attempt to encourage grwoth outside London without allowing the city to sprawl into umanageable suburban growth. The result has been the development of five concentrated growth regions that act as a counterbalance to London.

Bombay, India
The major industrial and financial centre and the most populous city in India, Bombay traces its roots to the small settlement of the East India Company. After it ceded to the British crown in 1661, little growth was

witnessed until the development of a stimulating economic environment in the nineteenth century. Factors that spurred the growth of Bombay include: the development of foreign shipping services to exploit its location on the Arabian Sea; the extension of a railway line to the cottongrowing areas in the hinterland of Bombay in the 1860's; and the boost in cotton prices as a result of shortages caused by the American Civil War. This economic growth resulted in an increase of population from only 10,000 in 1661 to 644,400 in 1872. Conditions such as famine in the country side and epidemics in the city have created an unbalanced demographic profile throughout the city's history. The 1990 United Nations population estimate for the urban agglomeration of Bombay was 12.2 million, making it the sixth largest city in the world. The economy in Bombay is rooted in a mixture of light and medium engineering industries, as compared with heavy engineering found in Calcutta. Other manufacturing activities in Bombay include: oil refining and petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, publishing, tobacco, leather, timber, ceramics and jewelry. Bombay is considered the most congested of any city in India. The 1981 census estimated that 2.8 million people lived in slums or near-slums. In spite of several programmes, the slums in Bombay continue to grow with the rapid increase in population. Slums have encroached on private and public land and overwhelmed all attempts at providing services. The water supply situation in Bombay is critical, with the level of supply so much below demand that water use is restricted and reaches emergency proportions when the monsoon fails. Bombay is also one of the noisiest cities in the world and suffers from serious air pollution, both from noxious industries and automobile emissions. Despite a substantial public transport system, congestion in the metropolitan area continues. More than 2 million Bombay residents have no sanitary facilities, and most sewage collected in Bombay is discharged untreated or partially treated into creeks or coastal waters. Attempts have been made to relocate industries outside the island city, but industrial pollution remains a serious problem.

Lagos, Nigeria
Lagos is the most populous city in Nigeria, the largest country in Africa. The metropolitan area, an estimated 300 square kilometers, is a group of islands endowed with creeks and a lagoon. Lagos is projected to be one of the world's five largest cities by 2005. In an effort to reduce massive urbanization in the metropolitan area, the Federal Government is in the process of moving the capital to Abuja. The original settlers of Lagos, or Eko as it is called by the indigenous population, were of Benin and Awori Eko heritage. The city began in the fifteenth century as a Portuguese trading post exporting ivory, peppers, and slaves. It subsequently fell into the hands of the British, who began exporting food crops after outlawing slavery in 1807. Although Nigeria gained independence in 1960, a two-

and-a-half year civil war broke out in 1967. After the war, migration to the city, coupled with huge waves of refugees and migrants from other African countries, produced a population boom that has continued to the present day. Lagos is the commercial and industrial hub of Nigeria, with a GNP triple that of any other West African country. Lagos has greatly benefited from Nigeria's natural resources in oil, natural gas, coal, fuel wood and water. Light industry was prevalent in post-independence Nigeria and petroleum-related industry dominated in the 1970's, directly affecting the rapid growth of Lagos. Oil production, which began in the 1950's, increased seven-fold between 1965 and 1973, while world oil prices skyrocketed. By 1978, the metropolitan area accounted for 40% of the external trade of Nigeria, containing 40% of the national skilled population. The world recession in 1981, which caused a sharp fall in oil prices, sent Lagos reeling into debt and runaway inflation that persist at present. As a result, a massive programme of infrastructure and social services expansion came to an abrupt halt. Energy and water access, sewerage, transportation and housing have all been adversely affected by haphazard development of a geographically disjointed city. Unlike the rest of Nigeria, 90% of the population of Lagos have access to electricity, with the city consuming 45% of the energy of the country. Despite the region's endowment of water, the city suffers from an acute and worsening water supply shortage. And due to inadequate sewerage, much the city's human waste is disposed of by the drainage of rainwater through open ditches that discharge onto the tidal flats. With congested bridges, traffic congestion is a daily problem in Lagos: it takes an average of two to three hours to travel 10-20 kilometres. A high-speed, elevated metro-liner is in the planning stages. Since 1985, state urban renewal plans have concentrated on upgrading the environment of slum communities by building roads and drainage channels and providing water supply, electricity, schools and health clinics. With cooperation from the citizens, success has been recorded in a number of pilot urban renewal schemes, which focus on building roads and drainage channels and providing water supply, electricity, schools and health clinics.

Mexico City, Mexico

Built on an island in Lake Texoco in the early fourteenth century, the Aztec city of Tenochtitln was the largest city in the Americas. Rebuilt after the Spanish conquest, Mexico City served as the political, administrative and financial centre of a major part of the colonial empire of Spain. During the latter part of the nineteenth century, Mexico City modernized rapidly. The industrial development of the city was facilitated by the fact that it had the best infrastructure of the country, the largest consumer market, and a relatively well-trained labour force. Due to the devastation of the smallpox epidemic in 1520, Mexico City began its existence with

only 30,000 people. Over the next four centuries population levels grew slowly until the spectacular growth of the twentieth century. Migration was more important than natural increase in fueling the population growth in Mexico City. From a population of 1.6 million in 1940, it increased to 3.1 million in 1950, 5.4 million in 1960, 9.1 million in 1970, 13.9 million in 1980, and about 15.6 million in 1995. This rapid growth in Mexico City was the outcome of policies that greatly favoured the concentration of industrial production in Mexico City. Mexico City had access to electricity, oil and other power sources, the provision of water and drainage facilities, and was the focus of major road investment programmes. The most important industrial activities undertaken in the city include the manufacture of clothing, furniture and repairs, publishing activities, production of rubber, plastic and metal goods, as well as the assembly and repair of electrical goods. Most of this production was for the national and local markets rather than oriented towards global markets, as is now the case due to the North American Free Trade Agreement. Urbanization has had a serious negative effect on the ecosystem of Mexico City. Though water supplies have increased to 300 liters per day per capita, the city lacks an efficient distribution system. Although 80% of the population have piped inside plumbing, residents in the peripheral areas cannot access the sewage network and a great percentage of waste-water remains untreated as it passes to the north for use as irrigation water. Pollution is undoubtedly the most serious problem in Mexico City. 2.6 million private automobiles in the city were estimated to be responsible for 50% of traffic congestion and produced about 80% of air pollution. Though government planning strategies strive towards the decentralization of Mexico City, tax subsidies and other government actions often make the city more attractive than other areas. Furthermore, Mexicans who desire to remain in Mexico City are influenced by numerous social, political, educational and cultural factor, and they often equate living in Mexico City with the image of personal success. It seems unlikely, therefore, that the national predominance of Mexico City will change very much during the remainder of the twentieth century.

Shanghai, China
Shanghai is the most populous city in China and one of the world's major ports. It was established more than 700 years ago at the tip of the Changjiang River Delta on the East China Sea. By 1816, more than half a million people lived in Shanghai, and it became a thriving commercial centre. The municipality of Shanghai is under the direct jurisdiction of the Central Government of the People's Republic of China. Population density in the central city is very high at 8,265 people per square kilometer.

The main causes of Shanghai's rapid population growth in the 1950's was due to natural increase and unregulated in-migration from the outskirts of the city. Factors responsible for the stabilization of population after that period include the success of the Government family planning programme, and a successful decentralization programme that developed satellite towns which absorbed much of the growing urban population. Shanghai has a significant heavy industry sector, primarily, machinery manufacturing, textiles and steel. The city produces a large percentage of the power generation equipment and ships in China. Proximity to the cotton-growing regions of China and access to the coast for easy international transportation have contributed to the strategic importance of the city. After the 1949 revolution, city planning in China emphasized integrated industrial centres consisting of complementary industries clustered together, with workers' housing nearby, so that employees were within walking distance of their workplace. The same design principles have been applied in Shanghai to more than 150 integrated developments built since 1949. Almost all households have access to piped water, electricity and garbage collection. The solid waste in Shanghai, which has a high organic content, is carried to the surrounding rural areas and provinces and used as fertilizer. Non-organic waste is reused in pit filling or brick making, or it is sold to the recycling stations. Infrastructure and environmental problems of the city are in the form of housing shortages and air and water pollution. Heavy dependence on coal as a source of fuel for both industrial energy and residential heating in Shanghai has resulted in significant air pollution. Shanghai has the highest cancer mortality rate in China. Also, a daily flow of approximately 4 million cubic meters of untreated human waste enters the Huangpu River creating a serious water pollution and supply problem. Contrary to the master plan of 1953 which sought to increase the population of Shanghai, current policy seeks the continued success of decentralization from Shanghai to the seven satellite towns built around the city. Tomado de: http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/habitat/profiles/index.asp el 21 de marzo de 2012