When it comes to examining global city regions, it is clear that elites within the city have to deal with two processes at the same time: globalization and continuing devolution of the state. These are trends that create opportunities and challenges. Global cities are complicated because they do not function as a unitary actor, instead different groups are simultaneously trying to gain control over the development process. Mumbai, India is a great example of a global city. While it is debatable whether Mumbai would be a global city according to Saskia Sassen (2002), it is a city that does exhibit a high level of global relevance. It is a city that has recently (last two decades) experienced mass urbanization; it is a regional hub, while also having to cope with vast social inequalities. Mumbai is also a city that has undergone political decentralization over recent years. This means that "flows of capital, content, and people often are attracted and processed by city regions rather than by states. States are ever less able to fulfill their traditional interventionist, regulatory, and redistributional functions." (Segbers, 2007:13). The power of the state in Mumbai has gradually eroded over the years.
[...] Economic and Political Weekly, Vol No Aug. 23-29. Patel, S. (1996). Slum Rehabilitation in Mumbai: Possible If Done Differently. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol No May 4. Patel, S. (2007). Mumbai: The Mega-City of a Poor Country. In Amen, M., Archer, K., & Bosman, M. (eds.). Relocation Global Cities From the Center to the Margins. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Robinson, J. (2002). “Global and World Cities: A View from off the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. [...]
[...] Throughout the last few decades, as growing numbers of people have emerged on the city, the crisis of housing has increased, as more and more are living in slums, without proper food, sanitation or an overall standard of living. It is a problem that is creating a growing divide within the city; the classes are being increasingly polarized. There has not been the political will to remedy the situation either, as the affluent have not had their taxes raised to subsidize the problem. [...]
[...] While it is true that Mumbai has excelled in many areas art, style and finance among them, it is also a place where a vast number of people live on the periphery of existence, and the city induces images of decline. More than half of the residents there live in slums or shanties, and have poor access to water and sanitation services. (Patel, 2007). It is also a city that has become synonymous with crime, drugs and prostitution. Globalization has been good to the country in many ways, but it has also negatively affected it in many other ways. [...]
[...] Land has always been in great demand in the city, and this is the cause of the housing crisis that plagues it. However, it has been collaboration between the private and public sectors that has led to the creation of superfluous scarcity. It has resulted in the private sector inflating prices of built apartment blocks, making access to adequate living conditions something that is not attainable for most people. As such, slums have developed on encroached land of the state government, private landlords, municipal corporations and the central government. [...]
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