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VI. Contemporary Patterns and Impacts of Industrialization and Development
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The term globalization is used to describe elements of the highly integrated global economy. This section focuses mostly on the transnational (spanning two or more nations), national, and regional variations in economic activity of the past 30 years or so.
To read the narrative and see further sections under each listed heading, please see "More" below.
Spatial Organization of the World Economy
The twin concepts of linkage and interdependence help bring globalization into focus. Technological innovation in space shrinking (jet engines) and timesaving processes (e-mail, fax, robotics) has enabled industrial organizations to stay efficiently coordinated while they grow in size and scope of operation.
Variations in Levels of Development
The global economy does have its core region (a tripolar core connecting the post-industrial economies of Japan and South East Asia, North America, and Europe), but it operates through networks of flows between particular control points (world cities, places with a disproportionate share of economic, political, and cultural influence). Major industrial regions of the world are now woven into this web of control.
Deindustrialization
The topic of deindustrialization encourages students to apply their understanding of place to economic change. For example, industrial activity is unevenly located through space because of the ways that innovation diffuses and the high fixed costs that stick or embed certain activities, technologies, and industries to place.
Pollution, Health, and Quality of Life
Industrialization changes human health and thus affects the quality of life, morbidity, mortality, and broader population dynamics. Many industrial processes have the effect of concentrating harmful materials near human settlements.
Industrialization, Environmental Change, and Sustainability
Learn more about the effects of environmental change on individual countries through our list of Web resources
Economic Development Initiatives: Government Policies
Examples of government or state actions designed to create a productive environment for economic accumulation, also called regulation, are common. Internationally, the trade agreements negotiated by members of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) help define global trade regulations.
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