1THE POLITICAL REALITY OF GLOBALIZATION

DEFINITION
Globalization can be thought of as a process (or set of processes) which embodies a transformation in
the spatial organization of social relations and transactions - assessed in terms of their extensity,
intensity, velocity and impact - generating transcontinental or interregional flows, and networks of
activity, interaction, and the exercise of power
Globalization is often associated with economic development, financial markets and international
business. In this context, the term globalization refers to the increasingly free flow of goods, services,
financial capital and labor across national borders.
Globalization refers to all those processes by which the peoples of the world are incorporated into a
single world society, global society
Globalization involves states that are leaner but they are also more active, and in some areas assume
greater responsibilities.
THE CONCEPT OF GLOBALIZATION
- is an interdisciplinary concept that has not a certain definition due to differences in
views and interpretations. By some it is considered as creating a common global culture
and homogenizing identities and life styles, while for others it may be interpreted as
highlighting differences and supporting locality.

Anthony Giddens describes globalization as a homogenizing process, made possible by the
differentiation of time from space. In this way, modernization establishes a network of global
relations between near-by and distant communities
ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION
- The economic case for the benefits of globalization is well documented.
- Larger, international markets allow for more efficient, effective allocation of limited human, physical
and financial resources.
- Global competition fosters innovation and improvements in organizations, goods and services.
- Through these market mechanisms, economic globalization leads to economic growth, international
development and, overall, higher standards of living.
GLOBAL WORK FORCE AND HUMAN MIGRATION
The global work force is more mobile than ever before. Workers move within and across national borders to
take advantage of the ample economic opportunities arising from international development and economic
globalization.
CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION
Globalization plays a major part in many forms of cultural and artistic exchange. Traveling companies of
performance artists share their art forms and local traditions with audiences around the world. Culinary
professionals ranging from globe-trotting celebrity chefs to line cooks spread local flavors and food culture
by moving from kitchen to kitchen and opening new restaurants across the globe.

This analysis might suggest that anxieties about the decline of (a certain vision of) culture in the
era of globalization are in fact justified.
But there is also another crucial difference between globalization and post-modernism that needs to be
pointed to first, which will begin to turn us back to the question of the activity of literary criticism and
poetics in relation to globalization.
Postmodernism
- Was never a public concept in the way that globalization has turned out to be.
- postmodernism never made anything more than a tentative leap from universities to the pages of
broadsheets, appearing only occasionally in an article on the design of a new skyscraper or in
sweeping dismissals of the perceived decadence of the contemporary humanities.
By contrast, globalization is argued for by the World Bank,
- is named in the business plans of Fortune 500 companies, and is on the lips of politicians across the
globe;
- it constitutes official state policy and is the object of activist dissent:
- There is clearly more at stake in the concept of globalization than there ever was with
postmodernism, a politics that extends far beyond the establishment of aesthetic categories to the
determination of the shape of the present and the future including the role played by culture in
this future.
THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON ARCHITECTURE - ENVIRONMENT RELATIONS:
HOUSING PROJECTS AND DESIGN APPROACHES
- Media flow and technological breakthroughs such as the TV, cinema, the internet and others
are the most important factors enabling us to interact with remote communities which may be
culturally different from our own. By such contact a common global culture is formed.
*Stuart Hall emphasizes that a new kind of globalization process, in which global elements are
intermingled with local ones, has been started, and this new type is the globalization of the
American culture (Hall 1998).
The spread of a global culture and lifestyles is very fast, compared to previous times, and it
emanates from an identifiable center (Taylan 2008).
Due to new communication technologies and media, culture has become a commodity,
produced, offered and marketed, and so it has become an image. The world is becoming a single
social space held together by the cultural transportation of semantic systems and symbolic
forms (Hannerz 1998).
the common culture created is the culture of those dominating this market.

GLOBAL UNIT AREA: CITY
The internationalization of capital, changes in production types and profitability from production
to consumption, and the growth of transnational investments have changed the economic order
and the associated social and cultural patterns. Many concepts nowadays have become commodities
to be marketed and consumed. In turn, many consumable items have started to play a role in the
formation and delimitation of identities (Thorns 2010: 121).
GLOBAL CITIES
Global flows of finance, media, information, ethnicities, and technology shape societies, and therefore
countries and cities.
(Jonathan Friedman 1995).
- Cities are spatially organized socio-economical systems. As such they become global
accumulation fields.
- The position of cities within these global flows also affects their economic, social, and cultural
structures. Although "global cities" are the focal points of the world, they also represent
globe-wide activities and positions of their countries. Moreover, they are involved in
relations with other global cities.
Global cities - metropolises
- are those cities that have high technological facilities, have been developed or transformed
by international capital, have high investment values, have advanced communication -
transportation technologies, and have been in communication - interaction with the
others.
- The uneven integration of the city into the global economy, however, may also
produce urban dissociation, increasing urban crime, poverty, and fear (Thorns 2010:
74-76).
Dissociation effects of globalization change the lifestyle and expectations of urban dwellers
and stimulate efforts for the creation of protected places free of the adversities of cities (Isik 2001;
Suer 2002).
Global cities are engines and archives of growth, change, culture, and ideas.
- They are great places where much of the world goes to live, learn, work, and
create.
- They are also challenging, often difficult places for everyone, but especially for
those on the fringes who do not share the same advantages as their fellow
urbanites.
On the other hand, the beauty of global cities is also that many of their benefits do not
require a price of admission other than showing up.
- For many city dwellers, the chance to rub elbows, swap stories, and share
experiences with anyone and everyone from all manner of national, ethnic, and
cultural backgrounds is more than enough reason to call a global city home.
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SOCIAL CLOSURES
Great differences in income levels within cities increase the crime rate and fear in cities. In response
to the perceived danger, certain social groups withdraw from the public arena into enclosed
complexes and residences with their own security personnel, surrounded by high walls and
camera systems.
For the luxurious housing projects, "lifestyle" is the key word. Each luxurious housing project
represents a certain life style and identity which are emphasized especially during the promotion
stages of such projects. Accessibility, particularly fast and quick access to the metro, the
availability of services within complex, advanced security measures, good property appreciation
forecast, the proximity of large shopping centers, and the image of an idealized global life style are
considered as the most important points in the promotion process.


GLOBALIZATIO FORCES I ARCHITECTURE
Cities and regions are facing great challenges as a consequence of globalization.
One force seeks to safeguard and promulgate established indigenous architectural
traditions, forms, decorative motifs, and technologies. It advocates historical
continuity, cultural diversity, and preservation of identity, all symbolized by a
particular architectural vocabulary, just as spoken languages and local dialects
impart identity.
The other force promotes invention and dissemination of new forms using new
technologies and materials in response to changing functional needs and
sensibilities. It places a premium on systemization, flexibility, and
interchangeability (Lewis, 2002).
Trends
Today, pressure to globalize architecture primarily springs from
Two sources to Globalize Architecture:
1. the culture of commerce and
2. the culture of design.
The global culture of commerce
- is driven by changing consumer expectations, market opportunities, and business agendas.
Their architectural manifestations include iconic, sky-scraping banking towers, chains of
standardized hotels, franchise restaurants, and shopping malls full of all-too-familiar name-
brand stores.
The global culture of design
- is supported by architects who study what other architects are creating, no matter where.
With fabulous photographs in slick magazines and professional journals, trend-conscious
designers can scan and span the globe, sharing high-style concepts rendered in stylish
materials. Glass, aluminum, stainless steel, copper, titanium, and natural stone are readily
available. If they cannot be acquired locally, they can be imported.


Technology
Globalization is now an unstoppable historical process led by technological change and involving the
dissemination of science and new technologies. Rapid urbanization has only been made possible by
the introduction of modern technology as a part of the development process.
In one of the oldest treatises on architecture, Vitruvius proposed three essential requirements for all
good architecture: firmitas, utilitas, and venustas (Morgan, 1914).
Complex construction and advanced building design require a mastery of structures and construction
technology, and as
Michelle Addington (2006:64) mentions, Technology is often considered the handmaiden of design
and, as such, is meant to be subordinate: design is the why and the what, whereas technology is the
how-to.
NEW TECHNOLOGIES ARE CHANGING THE NATURE OF WORK WITH ITS MULTIDIMENSIONAL
EFFECTS
by creating new forms of leisure,
- including the hyper-reality of cyberspace,
- new virtual realities, and
- new modes of information and
- entertainment.
Dramatic change and innovation have been part of modernity for centuries, as has technological
development and expansion.
A new global culture is emerging as a result of computer and communications technologies.
Transitional forms of architecture are traversing national boundaries and becoming part of a new
world culture.
The new wave of technologies in electronics, robotics, telecommunications, new materials, and
biotechnology has given rise to a new technology paradigm that accentuates the role of the world
cities (Lo and Yeung, 1998).
Thus, the adoption of appropriate technologies is a natural and unforced consequence of appropriate
architecture. Together, they offer valid forms and images to take the place of models offered by
industrialized nations, and as ShahinVassigh (2004:112) mentions,
The practice of architecture is a delicate balance of art and science a creative endeavor which also
requires that the architect master a broad array of technical skills, including engineering.



THE OPEN PRACTICE OF ARCHITECTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES
"General Practice of Architecture" means
the act of
- planning and architectural designing,
- structural conceptualization,
- specifying, supervising and
- giving general administration and responsible direction to the erection, enlargement or
alterations of buildings and building environments and architectural design in engineering
structures or any part thereof;
The scientific, aesthetic and orderly coordination of all the processes which enter into the
production of a complete building or structure performed through the medium of unbiased
preliminary studies
Medium of unbiased preliminary studies of
- plans,
- consultations,
- specifications,
- conferences,
- evaluations,
- investigations,
- contract documents and
- oral advice and directions
regardless of whether the persons engaged in such practice are residents of the Philippines
or have their principal office or place of business in this country or another territory, and
regardless of whether such persons are performing one or all these duties, or whether such
duties are performed in person or as the directing head of an office or organization performing
them;



"Scope of the Practice of Architecture" encompasses the provision of professional services in
connection with site, physical and planning and the design, construction, enlargement, conservation,
renovation, remodeling, restoration or alteration of a building or group of buildings.
Services may include, but are not limited to:
(a) Planning, architectural designing and structural conceptualization;
(b) consultation, consultancy, giving oral or written advice and directions, conferences, evaluations,
investigations, quality surveys, appraisals and adjustments, architectural and operational planning, site
analysis and other pre-design services;
(c) schematic design, design development, contract documents and construction phases including
professional consultancies;
(d) preparation of preliminary, technical, economic and financial feasibility studies of plans, models
and project promotional services;
(e) preparation of architectural plans, specifications, bill of materials, cost estimates, general
conditions and bidding documents;
(f) construction and project management, giving general management, administration, supervision,
coordination and responsible direction or the planning, architectural designing, construction,
reconstruction, erection, enlargement or demolition, renovation, repair, orderly removal, remodeling,
alteration, preservation or restoration of buildings or structures or complex buildings, including all
their components, sites and environs, intended for private or public use;
(g) the planning, architectural lay-outing and utilization of spaces within and surrounding such buildings
or structures, housing design and community architecture, architectural interiors and space
planning, architectural detailing, architectural lighting, acoustics, architectural lay-outing of
mechanical, electrical, electronic, sanitary, plumbing, communications and other utility systems,
equipment and fixtures;
(h) building programming, building administration, construction arbitration and architectural
conservation and restoration;
(i) all works which relate to the scientific, aesthetic and orderly coordination of all works and branches
of the work, systems and processes necessary for the production of a complete building or
structure, whether for public or private use, in order to enhance and safeguard life, health and property
and the promotion and enrichment of the quality of life, the architectural design of engineering
structures or any part thereof; and
(j) all other works, projects and activities which require the professional competence of an
architect, including teaching of architectural subjects and architectural computer-aided design;