cities have been for thousands of years

the centers of civilization as they have

watched empires kingdoms governments and

corporations come and go but in the

space of just a few decades our urban

fabric is undergoing a radical

transformation

today's wave of mass urbanization is

historically unprecedented in speed and

scale today over 1 million people are

added to the global urban population

every week in the space of a few decades

we are in the process of doubling our

urban capacity adding an extra 2 to 3

billion more people to our urban

environment as a consequence the world

is currently going through its biggest

build-out of technology infrastructure

in history we will build more ports

buildings roads bridges rail lines

airports power cables and

telecommunication networks in the coming

decades than we have since the beginning

of civilization

much of this urbanization will unfold in

the emerging economies of Africa and

Asia bringing huge social and

environmental transformations but also

the most significant shift in the

Earth's economic center of gravity ever

seen

our future is set to be urban as the

world's population is increasingly

concentrated in urban settlements this

creates new opportunities and new

challenges in a fast changing context

rapid unplanned urban growth can lead to

an expansion of urban slums exacerbating

poverty and inequality hampering efforts

to provide basic infrastructure and

accelerate environmental degradation but

urbanization also presents unprecedented

opportunities for rapid economic

development as hubs of commerce

transportation communication and flows

of financed cities drive economic and

social development offering us the

unprecedented opportunity to bring the

majority of the world's population into

the global economy of exchange

not only are people flocking into cities

at the same time our urban centers are

becoming integrated into ever larger and

ever denser networks of exchange

the way cities are shaped their scale

scope of influence form and

functionality is being transformed to

support the rise of global networks a

myriad of overlapping and intersecting

flows of ideas knowledge people money

goods and services link not only major

cities and city regions but an

increasing number of diverse places and

Ecology's into expanding global networks

of exchange these networks of economic

social political and cultural

organization pivot around global cities

creating a new geography of connectivity

new rules for economic success and new

patterns of governance the rise of urban

networks is linked to a much broader set

of social economic and technological

transformations taking place in the

global economy today this documentary

explores this changing landscape and the

development of urban networks as the

emerging geography of connectivity in an

age of globalization

urban networks are complex systems of

people and technology the constitute are

engineered environment over the course

of thousands of years we have gone from

the first engineered environments

composed of a few discreet hand tools

and small shelters built around the

individual and local community to the

complex urban networks of today that

span around the planet enabling global

economic processes to support billions

of people

just 12,000 years ago as few as four

million people inhabited the earth

nomads that roam the land following the

seasons the first humans being nomadic

would have lived almost completely

without fixed technology infrastructure

simply using hand tools and temporary

shelters from about 10,000 years ago in

response to the warming climates at the

end of the last ice age

some groups adapted to the changing

environment in new ways these changes in

organization would lead to the first

major paradigm shift in our engineered

environment what we call the Neolithic

Revolution the Neolithic Revolution was

the first major technology revolution

the critical turning point would have

been the development of fixed and

permanent systems of agricultural

production and permanent settlements

built around this permanent shelters

like Hut's storage areas wells for water

agricultural systems for food fixed

pathways distinct buildings for

congregation and ceremony with all of

these being integrated around the

community creating the first urban

infrastructure systems the permanent

settlement of humans within fixed

communities led to prolonged and

sustained technological and economic

innovation giving rise to advanced

civilization advances in agriculture

irrigation systems the harnessing of

animal muscle as an energy source and

population density would lead to the

formation of large settlements in the

form of Hamlet's which evolved into

towns and even cities as the first

empires formed with ever more complex

economic and social organizations

forming we started to engineer our

environments like never before building

the first human design landscapes in the

form of urban centers like the ancient

cities of Babylon or Damascus

throughout history the evolution of our

engineered environment has been directly

related to our knowledge of the natural

environment around us for much of human

history our scientific knowledge was

very limited in scope and depth the

great expansion of this knowledge that

happened during the Scientific

Revolution laid the foundations for a

massive explosion in technological

change one of the hallmarks of the

modern era the much deeper understanding

of our physical environment that modern

science brought enabled a new level in

our capacities to engineer the natural

environment and gave rise to what has

come to be called the Industrial

Revolution the Industrial Age was the

age of machines as we tapped into a new

energy source technology became alive

evolving into large mechanical systems

no longer dependent upon human and

animal energy sources we could develop

larger and larger mechanical systems

powered by artificial energy sources

instead of technology being built around

people as with the hand tool

increasingly people based their work

around machines as they became operators

of large industrial machinery that

enabled mass production processes our

technology infrastructure became

increasingly defined by mechanized

systems that automated physical

activities by fueling them with

artificial energy sources this enabled a

new scale to our engineered environment

as urban centers greatly expanded

before 1800 there was less than 10% of

people living in cities and there was no

overall urbanization however this

started to change in a substantive way

by the beginning of the 1900s at which

time 20 percent of world population was

urban the development of industrial

economies went hand-in-hand with the

development of the nation-state as the

social and economic organizational unit

of the modern era during the 19th and

20th century centralized national

governments worked to leverage these new

industrial technologies towards building

their own national infrastructure

systems the use of the combustion engine

to bring artificial energy sources to

mass transport began to integrate the

infrastructure of whole national

economies across broad geographical

areas across Europe and the u.s.

national infrastructure networks were

developed during the 19th and early 20th

century national railways in Europe

National Road systems like the

interstate highways in the u.s. national

water systems telephone networks

centralized broadcast media by 1950

urbanization had reached 30% around the

world but it was not until the new

millennium before we would reach the

symbolic tipping point of half of

humanity living in urban centers

by the latter half of the twentieth

century major new technological and

economic processes of change were

underway as national economies and

infrastructure were becoming

increasingly connected into global

networks of exchange the advent of

low-cost computing and telecommunication

networks would work to enable the

development of ever larger more complex

systems of organization in the 80s and

90s financial markets became deregulated

and expanded into a global network of

exchange we saw a huge rise in

multinational corporations as they

expanded beyond their national economies

entering into new markets through

outsourcing enterprises became

distributed out with advances in

transport and trade liberalisation

integrated global supply chains started

to take form and the global economy

expanded hugely within the space of just

a few decades

with the development of globalization

the emergence of the services economy

and information technology the global

economy is going through a deep

structural transformation moving from an

industrial model of mass production

organized around the nation-state and

its territory into a new form of

services and information economy based

around global networks of exchange urban

networks are the physical means of

connectivity they are systems of

technology that enable us to overcome

physical borders and connect with ever

larger networks these networks of roads

of communications of power lines of

logistics air transport shipping are the

physical form of this global

connectivity

there are now vastly more resources

moving around in these global networks

than in any national economy and around

the world people are flocking to cities

as points of access into these emerging

global networks and the opportunities

they provide as our economies and

societies develop into some form of

global organization so to our technology

infrastructure is morphing into a new

structure of urban networks that enables

this physical connectivity just as the

industrial technologies provided the

physical means for enabling the national

economy so too our technology

infrastructure today is being

reconfigured to provide the connectivity

for a global economy

it is only in very recent years the

global economy has switched from being

dominated by agriculture and industry to

becoming predominantly based on services

and information as a consequence

societies and economies around the world

are being transformed from being

primarily organized around physical

agricultural and industrial processes

within the national territory and

instead moving to the delivery of

services the processing of information

and knowledge which is no longer defined

by its physicality and the logic of

territoriality but instead is one based

on the logic of access and connectivity

it is this connectivity that urban

centers provide as economies shift from

being industrial to post-industrial

services economies a new strategic role

is given to cities as they become the

locus of high value-added services of

innovation and knowledge creation

with globalization and urbanization we

are in the process of creating a new

geography a geography based around

functional connectivity instead of

physical borders whereas the building of

the nation-state and its borders was

cultural and ideological in nature these

global networks are functional in nature

connections are made horizontally to

facilitate exchanges in a world where

market logic and technology have

combined to create a powerful engine

driving the world forward for better or

worse

the infrastructure networks that now

stretch around the planet are held

together by urban centers that form

dense concentrations of connectivity

urban centers function as the hubs

within regional networks that reach into

the territory of the locality linking it

into larger networks of exchange on the

macro level these urban centers become

nodes within the global network of

cities that provide the critical mass of

advanced services required to operate

the world economy at its current level

of functionality

the leaders in providing this

connectivity are what we call global

cities these are urban centers that

provide the services for integrating the

whole network a network of over 100

global cities is now understood as the

landing point for worldwide networks of

Finance and the hubs for logistics

networks these cities constitute a

myriad of overlapping and intersecting

flows of ideas knowledge people money

goods and have a direct and tangible

effect on affairs around the planet when

the world is seen from this perspective

of urban connectivity a new image

emerges where each city is horizontally

oriented to other cities of the same

level of interconnectivity as cities

have become interconnected over the past

decades they have come to identify

themselves increasingly in relation to

their peer cities around the world

instead of so much with their national

economy as these major urban centers

have risen they have both come to take

on more power and influence over their

own operations and the operations of the

global economy but they have also come

to differentiate themselves within these

larger networks and increasingly compete

with other cities

being a global city though is not about

size or even economic scale it is about

performing a differentiated function

within a global network of exchange and

thus making them a strategic location

within a worldwide value chain global

cities play specific roles in specific

networks for example cities like Taipei

and Shenzhen our major nodes in the

supply network for high-tech electronics

while cities like Geneva and Nairobi

are important nodes in global civil

society networks Dubai and Hong Kong for

air transport networks Washington and

Brussels for international political

networks but the absolute leaders in

this global connectivity play a major

role in almost all these networks London

New York Tokyo and Paris these urban

networks are the most complex

multi-dimensional and their influence is

the farthest reaching they regulate vast

flows of financial capital effectively

coordinate millions of people and

production processes in a multiplicity

of overlapping complex networks tourist

attractions research centres shopping

destinations tech startups the engines

of the knowledge economy corporate

headquarters melting pots of people

ideas culture all concentrated in small

areas of dense interaction and connected

into information networks that shape the

operations of the economy around the

world

the urban transformation that is

occurring to enable these global

information and services networks is not

just about cities getting bigger

it is a reconfiguration of territory and

basic organizational principles from

cultural and territorial borders to

functional connectivity globalization

creates a new form of space based around

networks of exchange and the physical

form of that space is urban networks

this new geometry of urban networks

driven by a market logic responsive

primarily to global networks of exchange

and operated by powerful private actors

creates a huge disjunction with local

territory and existing governance

structures cities still exist and

operate within the national regulatory

framework which is designed according to

the logic of its fixed territorial space

when increasingly our economy and

society operate based upon global

networks anchored in cities these

networks of information and services are

increasingly bypassing the national

territory altogether creating a new kind

of global and local space that exists in

urban centers one that requires a new

organizational paradigm to structure and

enable nowhere is this disjunction seen

more clearly than in the major financial

centers that are seen as the most

strategic nodes in these global networks

global cities are the landing points for

the world's flow of capital and goods as

these networks have grown the power of

the corporations that operate them has

likewise expanded greatly the global

city is the space where that power

becomes materialized a point where

highly abstract flows of capital and

information become something material

and visible to all

throughout history urban centers have

been the home of the dominant sources of

power within society with the building's

used to exhibit the power of those

dominant actors whether this was the

church government buildings or the

monuments of Empires but over the past

decades the centers of our iconic world

cities has become the locus of corporate

headquarters and financial centers with

the rise of economic globalization the

multinational corporations and financial

institutions that manage and operate

these networks become the dominant

actors this power is exhibited in a

global city which has come to be shaped

to a great extent by these powerful

actors according to their logic and to

accommodate their needs

financialization has changed the form of

investment in urban development with

significant results for how urban

networks have evolved over the past

decades the lines between private and

public have blurred while at the same

time the logic of finance becomes more

pervasive in the development of the

urban space cities have become

increasingly defined in terms of

investment vehicles instead of shared

living spaces huge amounts of capital

are now flowing into the development of

the primary urban centers from the

global financial system this

financialization of real estate and

urban centers has created a huge

disjunction between the local needs of

communities and those of these private

actors where once urban development was

driven by local incentives in response

to the local needs of the place with

financialization cities are becoming

increasingly private spaces of

investment that are primarily responsive

to the logic of these flows of finance

the process of globalization engenders

an evolving relationship between the

local needs of people and the market

logic of global networks world cities

are at the epicenter of this conflict

they are the frontier zone of

globalization and the struggle for new

systems of organization that would be

relevant for an age of networks in a

time when existing governance structures

are paralyzed by the complexity of the

issues at hand cities take pragmatic

action because they have to they are at

the forefront of financialization and

environmental changes the effects of

these changes impact them directly and

they are pushed to take action in the

absence of appropriate governance

mechanisms cities are becoming a new

locus of action but this is a very

different form of governance than the

one we are used to it will be a

governance structure that expresses the

new forces at play of Finance and

corporate supply chains of technology

and increasingly internet platforms

the rise of urban networks and the

movement of humanity into a

predominantly engineered environment

corresponds to a broader process of

change brought about in the Anthropocene

the so called age of humans after 1950

we can see for the first time that major

Earth System changes became directly

linked to changes largely related to the

global economic system with this

coinciding with the huge rise of major

urban centers

urban centers occupy only 3% of global

land areas but their physical impact is

directly connected to very complex

environmental transformations that take

place far beyond the confines of the

city large-scale planetary metabolic

flows are mobilized in order to supply

the largest urban centers whole region's

territories and landscapes are

operationalized in new ways in order to

provide food energy water materials and

other basic resources that result in

massive transformations in ecosystems

far away and often unseen by the

population landscapes in Malaysia are

transformed into palm plantations for

biofuels that keep urban transport

systems running cement and iron are

pulled out of the ground in Russia to

lay concrete for the 20 million Chinese

moving into cities every year water

systems in the Himalayas are altered to

provide for the urban centres of

northern India rare earth metals

extracted from Africa for the millions

of smartphones that keep Paris connected

the largest of these land and resource

29:52

consumers are what we call mega cities

29:55

which are urban centers of more than 10

29:57

million people in 1915 New York was the

30:00