Perspectives on cities of the global south

Abstract

This article offers a critical assessment of the present state of discourse on cities of global south. It identifies and examines five major themes found in the literature and shows both their cope and limitations, i.e. northern bias in the literature, informality, precarity and social disprity, fractured spatial organization, and inadequacies of planning in those cities. The article argues that there is some convergence in cities of north and south on account of globalization, large scale migration and digital revolution. With the example of Lahore, a mega city of the south, it argues that global south is too braod a category. Cities of global south differ by income levels, culture and social organization. The search for common bases of these cities should be focussed on generalizing by regions, economic conditions and cultural/religious uniformities.