Geography 120: Urban Geography: A Global Perspective

Assignment #2: Urban Development in the Third World

Working in pairs on a Third World city of your choice, imagine yourselves as policy advisors to the United National Development Programme (UNDP). You are tasked to write an 8-10 page research-based report arguing for an appropriate development strategy for your city, highlighting your city’s history, the most important economic and social issues the city currently faces, and what you would recommend as a promising strategy for addressing those issues. This report should answer the following three key questions:

1. What is the history of your city and how has this history affected its current conditions? Issues you should consider include:

a) What are the site characteristics of your city (location and physical characteristics of the area)? How have these characteristics shaped your city’s development? Please provide a map of your city. (You may copy this from an atlas or some other source, or download it from the web. The Maps library in the basement of Paterno Library is a tremendous resource: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/crsweb/maps)

b) When was your city founded? Why was it founded then?

c) Was it a colonial city? If so, who was the colonial power and how did this relationship affect the city’s development? (particularly in terms of the economic relationship between your city and the colonial power)

d) How and when did the country your city is in gain independence? What has been the impact of this independence on your city’s development?

2. What are the major social and economic conditions in your city? Key questions to consider may include:

a) What is the current population? How has this changed over time? What is the current rate of population growth? What is the cultural and ethnic background of residents of your city?

b) What is the position of your city in the context of the nation’s development? Is it the primary urban center? What percentage of your country’s total population and total urban population reside in your city?

c) What are the conditions of poverty like in your city? What is the annual income of residents? Are there estimates of the percentage of people living in poverty?

d) What is the economy base of the country in which your city lies? What is the economic base of your city in this context? How has the nature of this economic based affected development in your city? What kind of economic opportunities does this base provide?

3. Given your answers to the above two questions, what do you see as the top social and economic conditions that should be addressed in your city? What approaches to addressing these policies should be considered?

Due date: Friday, December 5