THE GLOBAL CITY
the contemporary world | lecture 9
TCW Globalization Economics Politics Culture Global City
MAIN IDEAS
The conception of the GLOBAL CITY answers to the character of globalization as a
spatial phenomenon because it occurs in physical spaces and because its movements
are based in places (Claudio & Abinales, 2018: 84).
For Claudio and Abinales (2018), “cities act on globalization and globalization acts on
cities. They are sites of as well as the mediums of globalization. Just as the internet
enables and shapes global forces, so too do cities.”
In connection to this, Colic-Piesker (2014) argues that the idea of a ‘global city’ “has
a central place in understanding contemporary spatial patterns of globalization.”
TCW Globalization Economics Politics Culture Global City
Characterizing the Global City
The global city is is the main physical and geographic context of
globalizing forces, the global flow of people, capital, and ideas are
interconnected in the daily experiences of its residents.
The global city represents and contains the world in a bounded
space.
Global cities are hubs of innovation, creativity, and productivity.
Global cities are financial centers, with great concentration of
geopolitical power, cultural powerhouses, and higher education hubs
and creative industries.
TCW Globalization Economics Politics Culture Global City
For sociologist Saskia Sassen (1991), the According to the Global Power City Index by
most defining characteristic is economic the Japanese Mori Foundation, the global
power, which largely determines which power of cities is measured through six
cities are global. According to Sassen, criteria:
global cities are the “command centers”,
• Economy; Research and Development;
the main spaces of triumphant global
Cultural Interaction; Liveability;
capitalism. E.g. New York has the largest Environment; Accessibility
stock market; there are 613 company
headquarters in Tokyo; the biggest Moreover, according to the Index, there is a
container port in the world is found in sense of “magnetism” by which global cities
Shanghai. deserve their status: a comprehensive power
to attract creative people and excellent
companies from around the world.
TCW Globalization Economics Politics Culture Global City
The ‘things’ produced in global cities are
not material, they are immaterial such as
ideas and knowledge. This “symbolic Economic opportunities in a global city attract
economy” based on abstract products like talents from across the world.
financial instruments, information, and
popular culture (arts, fashion, music, etc.) Global cities are centers of authority and in some
has increasing importance as instances, centers of political influence.
manufacturing companies move out of
cities into slum cities in Third World
countries.
TCW Globalization Economics Politics Culture Global City
Global cities are characterized by occupational and income polarization, with the highly paid
professionals on one end and providers of low-paid skill services on the other. This condition
continually reimagines social classes, income distribution, and the labor market, and
perpetuates the inherent inequality in globalization.
Global cities are centers of higher learning and cultural experiences. They attract
international students.
The cultural power of global cities ties them to the imagination.
TCW Globalization Economics Politics Culture Global City
Tokyo New York Global cities are melting pots for cultural
diversity, as a consequence of human mobility
and migration. I.e. presence of foreign population
either for work, education, or tourism purposes.
Globalization has created the global labor
London Seoul
market, leading to an increase in transnational
mobility and migration of people coming from
different places into the global cities.
The “magnetism” of global cities is not only for
the creative and innovative professionals and
Paris Berlin
firms but also for other necessary workers
(those in the low-skilled, poorly paid service
sector).
Moscow Oslo
TCW Globalization Economics Politics Culture Global City
Undersides of the Global City
01. 02. 03.
Environmental Aspect Socio-political Aspect Economic Aspect
environmental degradation; Cities are targeted for major socio-economic inequality;
terrorist attacks because of
sustainable and their high population, global the contrast between the
unsustainable practices; influence, and their rich and the poor (urban
embodiment of poor)
energy consumptions globalization.
TCW Globalization Economics Politics Culture Global City
Global cities can be sites of great inequality, poverty,
and violence—these spaces create winners and
losers.
Among the most profound downsides of everyday life in a global city are
high housing costs, long working hours, competitive labor market, long
commuting time, discrimination and racism, loss of sense of community
which promotes greater individuality among neighbors and residents.
TCW Globalization Economics Politics Culture Global City
The very nature of global cities as the sites and medium of
globalization embody complex and interwoven economic, political,
cultural, and demographic processes. If we perceive globalization as an
abstract process taking place at the world level, the conditions in the
global city illustrate to us that globalization is also tangible and closer
to home. Global cities pretty much exemplify globalization and its
intricate influence and relation to our everyday lived experiences.
