Centers: Prosperity and Sustainability in the Global City

Editor's Notes

• #3: The Metropolis in French
• #14: The Metropolis in French
• #16: St Lawrence Seaway bypass, govt subsidies Current mayor of Montreal, Tremblay, in Montreal is concerned with the power of central city of MontrealIn Montreal the provincial government of Quebec is perceived by some to be the “national” government, and the federal government is looked at with distrust (40)
• #18: “It is not considered very polite to say so, but Montreal is a city that attempted to commit suicide and it nearly succeeded” (Warn). Elaborate on Montreal’s French connection and still the influence… vieuxcarre area and so on….
• #19: “In Montreal, old suburbs on the Island have mostly developed as wealthy Anglophone havens (particularly on the west end of the island), while the central city has been home to a majority of francophone, immigrant, and poorer families. However, suburbs such as St-Léonard and St-Laurent have long been home to immigrant families… Exurbs on the North and South shores of the St. Lawrence River are overwhelmingly middle class and francophone.”
• #20: “a life near everything” and “don’t put a bridge between you and your family” highway 40 is to be built to complete the A25 expressway and is set to open this year with an expected toll of C$2.40 There are six current employment sub centers, 4 on the island of Montreal creating 182,000 jobs in the Central Business District alone and 2 off the island
• #21: In the late 1800’s an urban planning theory comparing cities to the vascular system was made popular Biggest impact of Transit on Montreal, it is an island. across the St Lawrence River and Riviere des Prairies that flank the city Montreal is largely regarded to have one of the best dual transportation system; both in research and updates Only 8 bridges on/off islandThe center city, which holds the business district and the working class suburbs have all been developed with high density housing accordingly
• #22: The main objectives of the Metro in Montreal were to ease downtown traffic, regain downtown visibility and to not change the shape of the downtown The creation of the Metro resulted in business growth both downtown and in some of the older suburbs of the city, utilizing the North-South Line The one negative impact that happened was with an emphasis on the North-South Line of the Metro, although the working class was given a new cheaper form of transit but this did limit the marketable areas to live for the working class
• #23: However the city growth is slower than the outlying areas with a commuting population of 3.6 million and on average 1.84 million cars In a recent sample of 31,997 people in the 186 square km or 72 square miles Montreal, the mean commuting distance is 14.52 minutes with a minimum of .1 minutes and a maximum of 88.69 minutes The mean amount of bridges that this sample used is .35, with a minimum of 0 and maximum of 1; with number of vehicles at mean 1.83, min 0, max 8 and mean daily trips at 2.84, minimum at 2 and maximum at 21One point is significant to this studyThe mean number of vehicles per household, 1.83For a city the density of Montreal, the number of cars per household suggests most people live outside city center which would be nearly impossible to house so many vehicles. In comparison to the other major Canadian cities of Toronto and Vancouver congestion costs actually rank third at C$249 versus C$271 and C$260 respectively
• #27: Singapore is often referred to as the “Freedom of the World” due to the fact that its central power is an established democracy that allows citizens to freely partake in various religious customs, careers, and leisure pastimes.
• #28: Over time Singapore would develop a Constitution and outline the positions of President, the Cabinet, Parliament, and various ministries.
• #29: Singapore’s government structure is an intricate distribution of leadership ranging from the President to the Prime Minister, and Minister’s of various ministries. A ministry consist of a headquarters and a number of departments and board entities.
• #30: In some cases the members of Parliament can be appointed as Ministers of State to aid ministers in their functions over each department. Singapore operates with the use of a statutory board. These boards cannot be staffed by civil servants, but business professionals and directors within the fields. The boards possess greater independence and flexibility . The board members consist Chairman, Deputy Chairman, not less than 10-25 members at a time and act in the best interest of the people and their needs.
• #31: Singapore’s government structure has sustained a prosperous economy and since 2000 has amounted to $373 billion in trade. Singapore is the 15th largest trader with the United States. With trade agreements with New Zealand and China, the workforce has had 2.2 million employees and has been sustained by departments that specialize in free market and economy management. The government’s organization aims to only support and manage the country’s resources (trades, investments, stocks, social services), while allowing entities to maximize their profit. Thus equaling to an economy free of government corruption.
• #32: Singapore has a uniquely connected transit system that allows for more than 52.4% of Singaporeans to commute to work and school daily. This percentage excludes foreigners. The transit makes on average 5.308 million trips a day.
• #33: Singapore’s transportation consistently links the country to many places of the world through two bridges. Transportation by sea has provided Singapore with one of the busiest ports in the world, Port of Singapore. Roughly, Port of Singapore transports around 393-448 of cargo yearly. Port of Singapore is also ranked as the best port in Asia. Outside of land and sea transportation, Singapore serves more than 185 cities around the world through its Singapore Changi Airport. The airport handles 64 million passengers and connects civilian, military and air force bases.
• #34: A large portion of Singapore’s economic success is due to commuter tourism. In 2005, the government legalized gambling and allowed the integration of two major casino resorts. In addition to the development of tourism is that of medical tourism. Tourists visit Singapore for medical healthcare. By 2012 Singapore’s medical tourism hub is expected to generate more than $1-3 billion (possibly trillion) in revenue. Singapore’s transportation and commuting has sustained the country with constant supply and demand, cargo from various corners of the world, and tourism. Singapore now has the ability to expand beyond its basic industries and reap the advantages of being a tourism and medical tourism hub for the future.