Human Geography Theme:

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Inservice Course for Upper Secondary Teachers

• Human Geography Theme
• Development
• Conducted by A/P Wong Tai-Chee

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• Objectives
• Know the different meanings of Development
• Understand the relationship
• Between Modernization and Development
• Between Globalization and Development
• Between Urbanization and Development

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• Meanings of Development
• 2 Major Considerations
• a) Economic
• b) Non-Economic

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• a) Economic development
• International level
• The extent of access and share to global wealth,
  tools and resources
• Often expressed in terms of economic progress,
  modernization indicators (eg. Level of
  industrialization), improved levels of material
  production consumption
• Disparity between nations
• Advanced versus less advanced or
• Developed versus developing or underdeveloped
• North versus South
• Individual countrys wealth output relies
  essentially on values of goods services
  generated and productivity levels
• E.g, a country producing low-price commodities
  would remain poor, especially if labour is highly
  inefficient

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• National level
• The extent to which resources of a country have
  been brought into productive use
• Often reflected in GNP growth rates, per capital
  income, purchase power parity, nutritional
  levels, workforce features (distribution of
  primary, secondary, tertiary sectors), volumes of
  import/export
• Disparity within a nation
• Prosperous region/province versus lagging
  region/province
• Urban/rural disparity (eg. gt60 of manufacturing
  values are concentrated in Mexico City Region)

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• Economic Measures of Development
• Gross National Income Per Capita Purchase Power
  Parity
• Cautions
• Many developing countries have substantial
  hidden sector (informal economies), depressing
  thus the aggregate performance
• Welfare commitments vary between countries eg,
  nationals earning higher incomes may have to set
  aside more for health care, childrens education
  etc than those earning less but enjoying better
  welfare
• Using purchase power parity for adjustment,
  nationals earning less in a developing country
  would actually earn higher than they
  statistically do due to lower cost of living,
  when compared with a high-cost country.

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• Energy Consumption
• Common measure relating to per capital income,
  industrialization level, and use of advanced
  technology
• Distribution of Economic Structure
• National economic status is normally low when a
  high proportion of workforce is engaged in
  labour-intensive farming on small land parcels.
• A more developed economy enjoys high proportions
  in services advanced industries
• Calories and Nutrition
• Minimum daily consumption specified by FAO of the
  United nations 2360 calories. An estimated 1/7
  of world pop. does not meet this requirement
• Caution
• Statistics do not reflect balance of diet,
  essential to health
• too high intake of calories in developed world,
  esp. North America has led to obesity

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• Definition of Economic Development
• Example
• Pertaining to human-resource use relationship
• The advancement of the management and use of
  natural resources to satisfy human needs and
  improve the quality of human life. For
  development to be sustainable it must take
  account of social and ecological factors, as well
  as economic ones, of the living and non-living
  resource base, and of the long-term and
  short-term advantages and disadvantages of
  alternative actions.
• Source www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/g
  lossary/D.htm

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• b) Non-Economic
• Education
• Access to basic school education
• 2/3 of adults in some poorest countries in Africa
  Asia are illiterate
• Cultural
• Training of various forms of arts, performances
  whether traditional or modern
• Public Services
• Access to safe drinking water, sanitary disposal
  of human waste
• Basic infrastructure (electricity, access roads,
  public transport etc)

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• b) Non-Economic (contd)
• Social/religious
• Narrowing gaps between social groups
• Community/voluntary services, promoting racial
  harmony
• Religious, worship services
• Health
• Basic medical services, esp. rural clinics
• Control of epidemics
• Measuring Happiness
• A controversial issue due to differing cultural
  backgrounds perceptions on what happiness is
• Psychological satisfaction may also change for
  individuals/communities subject to external
  influences social value evolution

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• Definition of Non-Economic Development
• Example
• Pertaining to Educational/intelligence training
• The process of physical growth and the attainment
  of intelligence and problem-solving ability that
  begins in infancy any interruption of this
  process by a disease or disorder is called
  developmental delay.
• Source professionals.epilepsy.com/page/glossary.h
  tml

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RelationshipBetween Modernization and
Development
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• What is Modernisation?
• Modernisation is an agent which 'involves social
  mobilisation, the growth of a more effective and
  centralised apparatus of political and social
  control, the acceptance of scientifically
  rational norms and the transformation of social
  relations'.
• (Johnston, R. J. and Gregory, D. 1981. The
  Dictionary of Human Geography. Blackwell, Oxford.
  P. 223)
• It is a shift from an agriculture-based
  traditional society to an urban-based modern
  society, accompanied by new social norms or
  values, very much materialistic in nature, and a
  lifestyle with strong emphasis on consumption.

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Modernization as a Process

• Historical Approach
• (in the context of colonized world)
• Colonial Era (16th mid-20th century), Through
• Colonization exploitation
• Diffusion of ideas application of new
  techniques education from core to periphery
• Division of labour, urban-industrial in the core
  against rural-agricultural in the periphery (with
  ports, service/administrative centres)

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• Post-Colonial (Post World War Two),
• Through
• Industrialization (import-substitution or
  export-oriented)
• Heavy involvement of multinational corporations
  (MNCs) with FDIs
• Highly selective nature of MNCs, leading to
  uneven development in global scale regional
  scale within nations
• New international division of labour
• Industrial shift from developed to developing
  world
• Investment criteria based on comparative
  competitive advantages, potential
  domestic/regional markets

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Relationship Between Globalization and Development
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• 3 broad strands of globalization affecting
  development
• Economic
• Cultural
• Political

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Economic impact

• The Shrinking World
• Time-space compression
• Time required for movements over space has
  reduced drastically due to advanced technology
• Cheaper affordable passenger flights cargo
  freights since the 1960s
• The stronger the links between places, the
  cheaper and more frequent, effective the contacts
  are
• Flights between Sydney Singapore (further
  apart) than between Christmas Island Sydney
  (closer in actual distance)
• Large-scale construction of expressways worldwide

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• Global convergence is reflected by
• Global shift in MNC investments to less developed
  world
• Highly concentrated in labour-intensive,
  lower-cost industries
• Limited industrialisation of recipient countries
  (setting up of export-processing zones (EPZ)
  duty-free enclave industrialisation)
• In early 1990s in Mexico close to US territory,
  over 2,000 assembly manufacturing plants
  producing electronic products, textiles,
  furniture, leather goods, toys automobile parts

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• Global divergence is reflected by
• Production system between places are diverse
• Hierarchy of production control trade by MNCs
  in developing countries
• Mass produced Fordist production-line systems in
  the newly industrialising economies (South
  Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia,
  Brazil, Thailand, Argentine, Mexico, China)
• More flexible, specialised high-value
  production systems in advanced capitalist
  economies

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Cultural Impact

• Rising levels of shared beliefs, social
  organisations, material consumption
• Cultural preference is facilitated by improved
  communications contacts
• Global mass media broadcast (e.g, CNN reports of
  war events, disasters, famine, poverty etc)
• Demonstration effects assimilation of North
  American European tastes consumption patterns
  in developing countries
• Coca-colonisation
• Hollywoodisation
• McDonaldisation

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Political Impact

• Unequal Development
• Despite rising uniformity in world production
  consumption patterns, there remain many
  differences between nations
• Globalisation does not spread a global dimension.
  Competition between places for global capital
  makes the world more uneven.
• Mass poverty is still predominant in many
  developing countries. The poor are caught in a
  vicious cycle of poverty (low income,
  malnutrition, high illiteracy, unemployment,
  rapid pop growth, little or no savings etc)

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• Contd
• Dynamic change is more concentrated in the more
  wealthy developed nations
• E.g, more telephone lines in New York-New Jersey
  metropolitan region than the whole of Africa
• Low-income earners in Afghanistan may not have
  adequate life-long saving to purchase a US2,000
  computer.

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• Rising Interdependency between Nations
• Post-World War II labour shortage in developed
  nations (1950s-1980s)
• Economic recovery expansion of the European
  industries needed external support
• Influx of workforce from Southern Europe to
  North-western Europe
• Flow of labour from ex-colonies to the former
  colonial powers
• Post-Cold War from1990s
• Talents have a greater potential being accepted
  internationally
• Strategic alliance etc

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Relationship Between Urbanization and Development
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• An Overview
• Rich countries
• many central cities are declining in size because
  of inner city decay counter-urbanization
• Suburbanization continues but slows down
• Poorer countries
• Faster pace of urbanization than rich countries
• Rural-urban migration -- much greater input to
  urbanization
• Both worlds face larger agglomeration expansions
  formation of megalopolis, conurbations,
  mega-urban regions, giant city, super-city,
  ecumenopolis etc

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• Common features of Third World Megacities
• High primacy index
• High proportion of migrants
• Large informal sector
• Unplanned uncontrolled urban sprawl
• Well below standards set for urban sustainable
  development
• Slums squatters
• Untreated sewage, industrial effluent to
  waterbodies, intense contamination at peri-urban
  areas

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• References
• Potter, R. B. Binns, T. Elliot, J. A. Smith,
  D. 2002. Geographies of Development. Longman,
  Harlow (UK).
• Fellemann,J. D. Getis, A. Getis, J. 2005 (8th
  ed.) Human Geography Landscapes of Human
  Activities. McGraw-Hill, Boston.
• Berry, Brian J. L 1993. The Global Economy,
  Resource Use, Locational Choice and International
  Trade. Prentice Hull International, London.
• Bijlani, Hiru 1994. Globalisation An Overview.
  Heinemann Asia, Singapore.