London, a Global City

Cette séquence s’adresse à des élèves de terminale et dure six heures (évaluation comprise). Elle peut évidemment être raccourcie ou étoffée en fonction du niveau des élèves. Elle a été conçue pour des élèves ayant un niveau B2 en compréhension écrite et orale et B1+ en expression écrite.

Dans l’académie de Créteil, cette séquence correspond aux thèmes proposés/imposés pour les épreuves orales du baccalauréat.

Plan de la séquence

Introduction: What is a global city?

I/ London: a major centre of the world’s economy 

A/ General data

B/ A brief economic history of London

C/ An interconnected city

II/ London’s commandment functions

A/ London’s political influence

B/ London’s cultural influence

C/ London’s economic influence: the City of London

III/ London’s urban dynamics

A/ A cosmopolitan city

B/ London’s eastern extension

IV/ London’s challenges

A/ Gentrification

B/ London and sustainable development

Lead-in activity

Video “London in 4K” (extracted from YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8zLJlU_-60) 4’11.

• Write down in your copybook all the buildings/monuments
• On the board, a three-column chart is drawn => economic power, political power, cultural power
• Classify the different buildings

Introduction: What is a global city?

Globalisation: The expansion of economic, political, and cultural activities/ exchanges to the point that they become global in scale and impact. This process has been aided by technological advances in transportation, information management, and telecommunications.

Globalisation encourages the process of metropolisation. Metropolisation means the concentration of the most qualified population and activities in the largest cities. Among those, some global cities can be distinguished. Saskia Sassen, in the 1980’s theorized “global city” to describe agglomerations that play a major role in the globalisation thanks to their economic and financial functions. The global city is a key place characterized by its connectivity and the concentration of services that allow the control of the world-economy. There is a small difference between a “Global city” and a “world city”, “global city” insists on the economic and financial dimension of the city’s influence and “world city” highlights the cultural power.

Then, a global city is a city characterized by:

– A high population density and cosmopolitism

– A world connectivity

– The concentration of the three main commandment functions: economic power, cultural power, political power.

 SUITE DANS LE DOCUMENT WORD