Cities today, like they have always been, are crowded; many people are living in the cities, which are much smaller in size than other areas around. This is not just an assumption or an argument; it is a fact. But the question is why this is a fact. What are so special and attractive about cities that many people choose them as where to reside over plentiful of other alternatives? Definitely, cities are the centers of commercial/economic activities, of education/knowledge, of desirable public goods/services and of multi-cultures. Cities are also the home to the government of a city, of a state, and/or of a country. And these are the reasons, in brief.
Indeed, for a country, or for a group of people, to survive, continuing its existence, let alone to flourish, its economy has got to keep moving; the constant flows of currencies, business transactions and other economic activities need to be in progress; otherwise, the country will be bankrupt, just like an individual can be. Since cities are the focal points where most stakeholders can be easily confident to establish their commercial activities thanks to the security reasons, to the assurance, with its heavy population, that there are enough numbers of customers for their products, and to the cities’ accessibilities to other parts of the world so that, with competent telecommunication and transportation systems, better communication with their partners in other countries is secured, to raise as a few examples. Therefore, there are many established businesses and organizations, whose presence can well attract not just local people, but also people from other areas that are in need of employment to earn money to finance themselves, as well as, their family’s expenses. This is why cities are like magnet that keeps crowding itself with people. People in cities can more easily be a factory worker, a waiter, a teacher, a government official, etc.
The cities are also where people can get access to standard education. In this regard, taking the case of Cambodia as an example, when finishing high schools, graduates from the country, if they want to pursue higher education in top schools in the country, which are less likely to be based at where they originally live, usually leave their hometown for Phnom Penh. Some even become permanent residents after they have graduated and seek for an appropriate job. Further, cities are also where many talents, who have a lot of experience and are very knowledgeable, live and work, having the chance to make better use of their talent and skills in big companies or organizations. Hence, to meet with, learn from, and gain mentorship from this kind of people, ones are obliged to live in the cities as well.
Apart from being a place to easily find jobs and to go for education, cities can also provide citizens with the comfort and convenience of enjoying all the public goods and services provided by the government. Usually, in cities, especially ones of developed countries, there are public buses, public trams, public subways, flyovers, complex road systems, bridges, parks etc. In terms of service, garbage-collecting service, security, assessable public service, etc. are also provided.
And it is the multi-cultural factor that makes cities even more attractive. Of course, cities has the force that keeps pulling people in—not just people in the particular country but also people from other countries. This creates diversity, making it rich in languages, food, drink, clothes, and so on. For instance, coming to Chicago, people can easily find Chinese food and typical Chinese products in China Town, Sushi (Japanese food), Italian food, Sari (Indian traditional cloth), just to name a few. For this reason in part, people come to crowd the city, hoping to enjoy more out of life and making it less routine and less boring.
After all, it does seem like cities are where there is everything; why is it so? It is mainly because of the fact that it is where the government resides. Actually, it is the government with the duties and responsibilities to take care of developing the city and the country in all areas possible. And, for one thing, as the government lives in the city, places in the city are its home and are undoubtedly where they see the most and, as the result, receive the most care and get the most developed compared to other parts of the country. This goes back to the previous points; because cities are better developed, investors are pulled in, economic activities are boosted, employment opportunity is bigger, more country people, as well as people of other nations and cultures, come in, and so forth, making cities such a desirable and important grounds for many lives.
Anyway, when it comes to the government, some say it can be dangerous. As defined in Comparative Government and Politics by Hague and Harrop (2004), “[the] government consists of institutions responsible for making collective decisions for society. More narrowly, government refers to the top political level within such institutions.” This reflects the power the government holds in decision-making—decisions that involves politics, which is about competition for power and resources. It is also a point to notice that greed and irrationalism to satisfy the greed are in human’s nature, so unless such natures are carefully controlled and rationalized, humans in power can be very dangerous. Therefore, when top people in the government structures enjoy too much of the power in their hands and are afraid to let it go, it is very likely that the government will become authoritarian or even totalitarian. To that point, the government is no longer necessarily for the people, but for itself. This point is also supported by what is written in Chapter 1 of the Comparative Government and Politics that says government can “abuse its own authority, creating more problems than it solves,” and the murder of about 130 million people by their own government during the “lethal” 20th century is an example of how lethal a government can be (Hague & Harrop, 2004, p. 5).
In conclusion, the unbreakable relationship between the government and city where it resides provides the city with all the advantages for it to grow in a way that attracts more and more people to be its citizens. The city is a breeding ground for commerce, education, cultural diversity, and other development, which are interrelated in benefiting itself, as well as people in the city and possibly even people in the entire country. However, because the pool of importance, advantages, and ultimately, power exits in the city, the government in charge can be harmful if not properly managed by the means of, for example, the creation or adoption and enforcement of a political system that can ensure that the least power can be abused.
Reference:
Hague, R. & Harrop, M. (2004). Comparative government and politics: An introduction (6th ed.). New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan
No comments:
Post a Comment