The Global Community … The big question is whether or not changes in the western lifestyle can be used beneficially to alleviate the worst conditions in the developing world. Roger Zetter, Rodney White “Planning in Cities: Sustainability and Growth in the Developing World” (2002)
Teddy Cruz Up to now I’ve discussed globalization in very abstract, general terms. Koolhaas’ diagrams portray globalization as an oppressive force, dividing the world into those who are integrated into the global economy and those who are excluded. Sociologist Manuel Castells predicts how globalization will polarize cities, increasing the gap between rich and poor. In response, practices have begun to appear which try to respond to
globalization at the local level. Estudio Teddy Cruz operates at the border of Tijuana and San Diego, where, in his words, politics of discriminating zoning, a catch-22 of development restrictions and economic incentives prevent the immigrant communities from developing. As means of production increasingly follow cheap labor markets south and human migration goes in the opposite direction, the two cities divide and repel
each other even as they overlap. The work of Teddy Cruz responds to these factors, and he describes his work as “radicalization of the local to produce alternative readings of the global.”