Manuel Castells, for those that don’t know, is one of the most prolific, well-respected scholars of our time. I know his work around the networked society – the ramifications of the information and communication revolution – but he is also a ground-breaking student of sociology, urbanization and politics.

He is currently spending some time in South Africa giving various talks at universities. Tonight, I attended one at the University of Cape Town (somewhat poorly) entitled “Prospects for Cities in the Global South.” Instead of trying to synthesize it, I thought I’d post some striking points:

• Castells sees two linked processes shaping our world: globalization and metropolitanization. To him, urbanization refers to an out-dated model of change. Instead of cities as popularly understood – city center surrounded by suburbs and followed by rural areas – population concentration these days comes in the form of “metropolitan regions.” He didn’t specifically say it (he used examples from China or Europe), but think of D.C., Philly, B-More, NYC (and maybe even Boston) – regions of urban areas with policentric metropolises. The metropolitan region is the spacial form of our era, and it is not equivalent to the cities of yore.
• Although the world just crossed 50% urbanization, Latin America has been 80% urban for ten years. Brazil is 85%!
• This is an inevitable trend because metropolises are necessary for face-to-face interaction which define high-level activities. The globally networked nature of these regions allows this high-level interaction to be transferred internationally to more low-level activities. This spacial concentration enables innovation (think Silicon Valley), but you need both the concentration (nodes) and the dispersed network.
• Universities are not necessarily creators of knowledge. They need to actively generate development from their knowledge and create “self-programmable learners” because the skills they learn in school will soon be obsolete.
• In rural areas, people have no chance at survival. They know this – every effort to stave off rural-to-urban migration has failed. [Aside: then why is Sachs & Co. working on the Millennium Village project?]
• Spacial concentration has a number of challenge, for which we must prepare:
  • Major environmental crisis: our livability on this planet is in danger because even though cities are the major engines of economic growth, the are a major cause of environmental damage.
  • Concentration of poverty and social exclusion at unprecedented scales. Highly linked to ecological threats such as pandemics: “Viruses don’t stop at the door of the a rich neighborhood.”
  • Lost public spaces to private centers, and therefore lost identity.
  • Mobility has become a recipe for immobility. Notion of relying on the automobile is unrealistic when space is limited and plenty of people cannot afford them. “We are in permanent gridlock.”
• Although the metropolitan region is the key size for this century, we lack the institutions to plan them.
• Cultural tolerance and openness will be key due to population migration.

I really have no where enough experience with these topics to criticize what seemed like a thoughtful and smart talk. Next week, though, I hope to attend the launch of his new book, Communication Power – a topic I am more comfortable with.