- California Free Trade and Globalization - Lessons of Regional Planning for the economy and environment   37 kb by    Clavio, Brett | gbclavio@yahoo.com    Short Outline Globalization of Markets, Economies and Cities- learning from the San Francisco Bay Area Abstract Global Leaders, Global Teachers- if it happened here, it can happen there too! Globalization of Markets, Economies and Cities- learning from the San Francisco Bay Region. Over the past few years, the San Francisco Bay Area has experienced the boom and bust of the high-tech, “new-economy.” Silicon Valley and dot-com goods and services were speculated upon in global markets. Speculation in the region’s economy caused inflation though, ranging from higher local housing costs to higher stock prices. Effectively, displacement of older, poorer residents by eviction occurred to capture inflated prices for the new residents of the new economy. Many locals had to move. Since the bust, stocks dropped and many of the newcomers had to leave. Remaining residents however, still face high housing prices. The median housing price in the area is now $445,000. Cities and regions should plan for globalization with recourse from their historical economies and identity. They should similarly be realistic about the impacts of globalization upon their region’s economy, people and place. Globalizing nodal cities in developing worlds face similar phenomenon as those in developed worlds: depleted environmental resources, sprawl and pollution, rising prices and disparate economic groups. Planners should manage these issues with the help of sustainable development guidelines. Managing a sustainable economy and development patterns means managing globalization in the region with sustainable planning principles. Leaders, stakeholders, planners, and the people of the local communities can form the sustainability guidelines, incorporating their region’s goals and values, while protecting against unintended displacements and takings. In the global economy, flexibility is also demanded of planning, to ensure economic development and to resolve conflict. The influence of global markets should be managed to protect a region’s cultural and historical economy, its values of production, land uses and sustainability. The developing world should learn applications of sustainability from the best and worst cases of the developed world. Keywords Sustainability Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2003: Planning in a more globalized World   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper