SPEED
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Osman Bozkurt 1970Born Turkey, works Turkey
Auto - Park / The Highway Parks of Istanbul 2003
Video (extract)
Courtesy the artist
The speed with which many of the world's
cities are growing affects their social and physical
structure dramatically. The five cities featured
in this section - Cairo, Istanbul, London,
Los Angeles and Shanghai - are experiencing
growth at a different pace, and absorbing it in
different manners: some are growing upwards,
others are growing outwards.
The speed of urban change is fuelled by
natural increase as well as rural-to-urban
migration, with people flocking to cities in
search of jobs and social opportunities. Some
cities, like London, are managing this change
with planned strategies for growth. Others are
overtaken by informal development processes
that completely transform their scale,
texture and character.
In many cases, the social and urban landscapes
of these cities are being rapidly transformed
by the speculative commercial development
of business parks, commercial
districts, shopping malls and housing
enclaves. These changes directly affect the
lives of existing communities and new city
residents; the way in which they are managed
is central to the creation of more balanced
and inclusive cities in the twenty-first century.
SHANGHAI
According to the United Nations, Shanghai is the
eighth fastest-growing city in the world, adding
29.4 new residents each hour. The city lies at the
intersection of global trading routes at the heart of
the Yangtze river delta, one of world's fastestgrowing
regions. Its metropolitan region holds over
18 million inhabitants, a number increased mainly
by rural Chinese migrants attracted by its economic
potential and rampant construction activity.
Shanghai's sustained and substantial economic
growth (the current annual economic growth rate of
10% is projected to continue for at least another
decade) has produced a landscape of dramatic
vertical and horizontal expansion. The city's public
and private sectors are closely meshed, and it continues
to build themed satellite towns and construct
hundreds of new subway stations. The
demand for residential space is fuelled by speculative
development as well as residents' needs; in
1985 the average dwelling size was 12 square
metres – the size of a small car. It is now over 40
square metres; still small by most North American
and European standards.
Shanghai's economy is modernising as well as
growing: approximately half of the labour force
work in the service sector, while 36% are employed
in industry – about three times the number in
western global cities like London. Shanghai is also
investing heavily in expanding its road capacity
and public transport infrastructure. Currently a
quarter of daily commuters use some form of public
transport, with over half of Shanghai residents
either walking or cycling to work. While an annual
limit has been set on car sales, bicycles are targeted
as an impediment to traffic flow, threatening this
older and more sustainable form of transport.
CAIRO
Cairo is one of the world's oldest continually -
inhabited cities, centred on the river Nile and its
fertile basin surrounded by desert. It is an intense
palimpsest of overlapping cultures and civilizations,
each of which has lefts its mark on the city's built
heritage. The population totals 7.8 million, with
almost 15 million in the greater metropolitan area;
non-official figures approach 18 million. Cairo's
population grew by about 890% in the past century,
fuelled partly by an influx from rural areas. Current
growth is calmer: 15% in the past decade. Cairo is
the fifteenth fastest-growing city in the world and
the third fastest in Africa, after Lagos and Kinshasa.
60% of the city's residents live in unlicensed
housing, some up to 14 storeys high, but many
have access to modern facilities – water, gas and
electricity. 100,000 people inhabit Cairo's City of
the Dead, whose small courtyard buildings,
mosques and tombs provide makeshift shelter for
new immigrants. The site has been occupied by
the poor for several hundred years.
To redirect urban growth, Cairo's government
has fostered the development of several satellite
cities in desert areas poorly served by public transport.
But despite heavy promotion over three
decades, by 1996 the total population of these new
towns was less than Greater Cairo's growth in just
six months.
Maha Maamoun 1972
Born and works Egypt
Domestic Tourism 2005
From left to right:
Beach, Garden, Cairo at Night and Felucca
Lightboxes
Courtesy the artist
enlarge
Maha Maamoun 1972
Born and works Egypt
Domestic Tourism 2005
From left to right:
Beach, Garden, Cairo at Night and Felucca
Lightboxes
Courtesy the artist
enlarge
Maha Maamoun 1972
Born and works Egypt
Domestic Tourism 2005
From left to right:
Beach, Garden, Cairo at Night and Felucca
Lightboxes
Courtesy the artist
enlarge
Maha Maamoun 1972
Born and works Egypt
Domestic Tourism 2005
From left to right:
Beach, Garden, Cairo at Night and Felucca
Lightboxes
Courtesy the artist
enlarge
ISTANBUL
Osman Bozkurt 1970
Born and works Turkey
Auto-Park/The Highway Parks of Istanbul 2003
Video
Running time: 15 minutes 50 seconds
Courtesy the artist
enlarge
Istanbul is the eighteenth fastest-growing city in the
world, adding 19 new residents each hour. With 9.8
million inhabitants, the ancient but rapidly growing
city is the largest within its young country. Istanbul
straddles the Asian and European continents, with
an extensive waterfront on both sides of the Bosphorus.
The city grew by around 900% in the past
50 years; 27% in the last decade. Further growth of
1.5 million people is projected in the next decade.
With the recent infusion of global capital and
culture, the city is engaging in large infrastructure
schemes. These include the Marmaray rail-tube
tunnel linking its two halves, and controversial programmes
for renovating its urban core and redeveloping
its waterfront.
Industry is no longer the principal cog in Istanbul's
economy, but it employs a third of the city's
population; significantly, a third of Turkey's manufacturing
plants are still in Istanbul. As industries
move to the outskirts of the city, many redundant
industrial areas (especially along Istanbul's extensive
waterfronts) have become sites for the development
of cultural institutions and facilities. This is
particularly true of its Asian side; until recently, such
resources have been concentrated in the historic
western peninsula.
LONDON
With a population of 7.5 million, London is growing
again after a period of decline. This growth is moderate
compared with the other cities in this section:
London is the 360th fastest-growing city in the
world, adding only 2.3 new residents an hour (less
than one-tenth of Shanghai's rate).
London reached its peak of 8.6 million people in
1939, but declined during the 1970s and 80s.
600,000 more inhabitants are projected in the
coming decade. The planning decision to contain
this growth within the existing city boundary is
driving a period of intense inner city development.
Housing and offices are being constructed at higher
densities on available urban land – much of it on
redundant industrial or 'brownfield' sites along the
river Thames.
London lies at the heart of south-east England;
its regional hinterland contains 17 million people.
London itself is the UK's economic powerhouse,
with a GDP equivalent to that of Switzerland; over
80% of its work-force are employed in services. But
London's wealth belies the levels of poverty in inner
city areas. High housing costs in relation to income
mean that over half the children in some central
areas live below the national poverty line.
PROJECT: CONGESTION CHARGE
Congestion charging is a daily fee for driving a vehicle
on public roads within a designated zone (an ovalshaped
22 square kilometres of central London) during
weekday peak hours. The scheme is enforced by computer-
linked licence plate recognition cameras.
The scheme has generally been a success, despite
continued opposition from central London businesses,
who claim the charge has negatively affected
their trade. The charge was increased from £5 to £8
in 2005 and a westward expansion of the regulated
zone was implemented in early 2007.
The congestion charge has reduced car-use within
the zone by over 25% (compared with pre-charging
peak-hour levels). Bus passenger numbers have
nearly doubled since 2003. Profits are ploughed back
into public transport and public space improvements.
CLIENT: TRANSPORT FOR LONDON, MAYOR OF LONDON PHASE ONE 2003;
PHASE TWO 2007
LOS ANGELES
Andreas Gursky 1955
Born and works Germany
Los Angeles1999
Framed C-print
Collection Glenn Scott Wright. Courtesy Victoria Miro Gallery
enlarge
Los Angeles is a city of suburbs at the heart of a
wider agglomeration of over 16 million people; it is
the second largest metropolitan region in the USA
after New York. The city is growing at a rate of 10.1
people per hour - half the number of Cairo, but
nearly five times that of London. Its Long Beach
agglomeration is 52nd fastest-growing in the world.
LA's urban growth is driven by a strong economy,
based on a high industrial and port activity as well
as the media and film industries. The city has
grown horizontally, at relatively low residential densities:
a collection of suburbs consisting mostly of
detached single family homes. Recent immigration
and geographic limits to expansion are causing
pressure to accommodate more people within its
boundaries. In contrast to the image of a lush city
on the Californian coast, many communities in Los
Angeles (particularly in the south) are deprived of
open space. Only 10% of the city is allocated to
green open spaces: primarily large parks away from
higher density urban centres.
Private cars remain the prevalent transport
mode; public transport serves only 10% of daily
journeys. Inadequate public transport provision has
clear social-justice implications: Los Angeles's poor
residents rely on the bus system. But the city is
investing in its public transport infrastructure: bus
rapid transit, light rail and subway. In addition, it is
strengthening a freight rail link along the Alameda
corridor, connecting the region's two ports with its
downtown area. Prominent public buildings built
over the past ten years form a new civic focus in the
central city; plans are underway to regenerate the
downtown district.