The Global City
Topic 1: Global City
Saskia Sassen
 Sociologist popularized the term “global city”
in the 1990’s.
 The criteria of Sassen for what makes up
the global city where primarily
economic. It based on economic aspect
such as how progress and how develop
the certain place is.
 She was able to produced books and one
of the books she wrote was GLOBAL
CITY.
 She initially identified three global cities: New
York, London and Tokyo
 If we try to access this 3 cities there are
the core or the center of global finance
and capitalism around the world.
 There are also considered as the home of
World Stop Stock Exchanges.
 New York has the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE), London has Financial Times Stock
Exchange (FTSE), and Tokyo has the Nikkel.
Global Cities
 Any account of the economic power of cities
today must take note the latest development
 Recent commentators have expanded the
criteria that Sassen used to determine what
constitutes a global city.
 Movie – making Mecca Los Angeles can now
rival the Big Apple’s Cultural influence
 The Big Apple is the nickname for
New York City
 Movie – making Mecca means film
movies or movie making
 The point here is that Los Angeles
keep up in New York City when it
comes to movie making
 San Francisco must now factor in as another
global city because it is the home of the most
powerful internet companies – Facebook,
Twitter and Google
 The growth of the Chinese economy has
turned cities like Shanghai, Beijing, and
Guangzhou into center of trade and finance
 In the late 1990’s, the Chinese
government reopen the Shanghai stock
exchange and since then it has grown to
become the 5th largest stock market in
the world.
Defining the Global City can be difficult.
And of one way to solving this dilemma is to
go beyond the simple dichotomy of Global
and None Global. And instead of asking why
or why not one city is a Global City it is
better to ask in what ways the cities global
and to what extent are the global
Indicators of Globality
 The foremost characteristics of a global city is
economic power
 Sassen remains correct in saying that
economic power largely determines which
cities are global.
 Economic power largely determines which
cities are global
 For example, New York, New York has
largest stock market in the world but
Tokyo and Japan it houses the most
number of corporate headquarters
 613 company headquarters in Tokyo and
217 in New York, Usa
 The Shanghai in China has low stock
market compared to New York and
Tokyo but It place a critical role in the
global economic supply chain since
when China became the manufacturing
center around the world.
 Economic opportunities in a global city make
it attractive to talents from across the world
 Since 1970’s many of our excellence
and competent IT programmers and
engineers in Asia has moved in San
Francisco, California. The reason for
this because they want to be part of
Silicon Valley
 The Silicon Valley is company can be
find in San Francisco, California and it
serve as a global center as high-
technology and innovation
 London it remains preferred destination
for many Filipinos with Nursing Degree
 Economic Opportunities it makes a
attractive talents from across the world
 To measure the economic competitiveness of
a city, the Economist Intelligence Unit has
added other criteria like market size,
purchasing power of citizens, size of the
middle class, and potential for growth
 The ‘”tiny” Singapore is considered as Asia’s
most competitive city because of its strong
market, efficient and incorruptible
government, and livability
  Singapore is widely regarded as one
of the safest country to live in with
consistently low crime rates, a
transparently legal system and low
poverty
 Global cities are also centers of authority.
Washington DC may not be as wealthy as
New York, but it is the seat of American state
power
 Some major landmark in USA the
White House Supreme Court and
Monument
 Compared with Sydney and Melbourne,
Canberra is a sleepy town and not attractive
to tourists. But as Australia’s political capital,
It is home to the country’s top politician,
bureaucrats, and policy advisors
 Bureaucrats it refers to the
government official
 Canberra is also a part of Global
Cities because it considered as
political capital of Australia
 The cities that house major international
organizations may also be considered center
of political influence.
 United Nation Headquarters – New
York
 European Union Headquarter – Brussels
 ASEAN Headquarter – Jakarta
 European Central Bank – Frankfurt,
Germany
 Global cities are centers of higher learning
and culture. A city’s intellectual influence is
seen through the influence of its publishing
industry
 Many of the book that people read are
published in places like New York,
London
 The New York Time carries the name of
New York City but it is far from being a
local newspaper because not only in the
citizen in America can read this even
people around the world are interested to
read the these newspaper
 Many people wants to visit Boston is
because they want to see the Harvard
University – it is considered as one the
world top university
 Many teenagers moving to cities in
Australia because of the leading English
Language Universities. Education is
currently Australia’s 3rd largest export
of their coal and iron
Los Angeles – the center of the American film industry
Copenhagen, Denmark – It is the capital of Denmark. It
is not the home of major stock market unlike New York
and Tokyo but it is considered as the Global City
because of culinary capitals. Is now considered as one of
the culinary capitals of the world, with its top restaurants
incommensurate with its size
Manchester, England – many prominent post – punk
and new wave bands – Joy Division, the Smiths, and the
Happy Mondays – hailed from this city
Singapore houses some of the region’s top television
stations and new organizations (MTV Southeast Asia
and Channel News Asia)
 Singapore slowly becoming the cultural center
for either region.
Its various art galleries and cinemas also show
paintings from artists and filmmakers from
Philippines and Thailand
Today, global cities become culturally diverse
 There is also diversity or differences. For
example, in global city one will try cuisines in
different parts of the world like in Berlin,
Germany and Tokyo, Japan since in these
countries they have the large Turkish population
that why they offer some of the best Turkish
food which one can find even if he/she it’s not in
the Turkey
Manila is not very global because of the dearth of
foreign residents
 Manila has a shortage when it comes to foreign
residents in our country
But Singapore is, because it has a foreign population
of 38%
 It matter here if how many population of
foreigner live in one city
Why study Global Cities
Globalization is spatial which means:
1. Globalization is spatial because it occurs in
physical spaces. More people are driven out
of city centers to make way for the new
developments
 We can see it if foreign investments
capital moved through a city and when
company build a skyscrapers.
 Skyscrapers – High buildings
 People who are moving in this
businesses or Filipinos working abroad
they start to purchase or rent high rise
condominium units and better homes
 As all these events happen, more people
are driven out city centers to make way
for the new developments
 2. Globalization is spatial because what makes it
move is the fact that it is based in places
 Los Angeles is known for the Home of
Hollywood it is where the movies are
made for global consumption
 The main headquarters of Sonny is in
Tokyo, Japan
 From there the company coordinate the
sale to its various branches across the
world
 Cities act in Globalization and
Globalization acts on cities. They both
benefits. They are the sites as well as the
medium of globalization
The Challenges of Global Cities
Global cities also have their undersides. They can be
sites of great inequality and poverty as well as
tremendous violence
 Like the broader process of globalization, global
cities creates winner and losers
Global cities create winner and losers
Denser settlement pattern yield energy saving;
apartment building for example, are more efficient to
heat and cool than detached suburban house
 The denser the settlement has advantage because
it yield an energy savings therefore, crowded
settlements gives in energy savings. For
example, apartment, mostly in apartment has
denser settlement but it has advantage because
it’s more efficient to heat or cool unlike for
suburban houses
 Suburban houses –residential house like
subdivision
In cities with extensive public transportation systems,
people tend to drive less and thereby cut carbon
emissions
 The good example is New York, they have low
carbon footprint
 Carbon footprint – the total greenhouse gas
emission of an individuals
Not all cities are as dense as New York or Tokyo.
Some cities like Los Angeles are urban sprawls, with
massive freeways that force residents to spend money
on cars and gas
 Unlike Los Angeles, they prefer to use private
vehicle, and if they have private vehicle each
individual consume gas and it contribute to
pollution
Urban areas consume most of the world’s energy.
Cities only cover 2% of the world’s landmass, but
they consume 78% of global energy. Therefore, if
carbon emissions must be cut to prevent global
warming, this massive energy consumption in cities
must be curbed
 Rural – Province ; Urban – Cities
 Why do we considered carbon emission bad?
Because the contribute pollution, climate change
and global warming but carbon emissions from
factories and automobiles are among the biggest
contributor of pollution, climate change and
global warming
Will it be possible to grew more food in
cities instead? Some cities who have been
practicing the so called Vertical Farms – the
abandoned building, they convert it into
vertical farm
The major terror attacks of recent years have also
targeted cities. Cities, especially those with global
influence are obvious targets for terrorists
 911 – World Trade Center, New York
September 11, 2001
 November 2015 attacks in Paris by Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
The Global City and the Poor
Massive inequality was very pronounced in cities.
Some large cities, particularly those in Scandinavia,
have found ways to mitigate inequality through state
– led social redistribution programs. Yet, many
countries, are sites of contradiction
 Scandinavia – it doesn’t refer the country. It
denotes the countries in Norway, Sweden and
Denmark.
 Although in the quality exists in the most of the
cities but in cities in Scandinavia they
implemented ways in minimize and lessen the
inequality in their respected place. They
implemented redistribution programs
In places like Mumbai, Jakarta, and Manila, it is
common to find gleaming buildings alongside massive
shantytowns
 Gleaming buildings – it is the modern glass
structure high building
In the outskirts of New York and San Francisco are
poor urban enclaves occupied by African –
Americans and immigrants families who are often
denied opportunities at a better life
 African – American forced to moved further
away from their cities.
 Off course as a city attracts more capital and
feature residence the price of the product arises
and the poor residence has no choice but to
relocate and move to place with cheaper price
Gentrification – a phenomenon of driving out the poor in
favor of newer, wealthier residents
In Australian cities, poor aboriginal Australians have
been most acutely affected by gentrification.
In France, poor Muslim migrants are forced out of
Paris and have clustered around ethnic enclaves
known as Banlieue.
In most of the world’s global cities, the middle class is
also thinning out. Globalization creates high – income
jobs that are concerned in global cities

In places like New York, there are high – rolling

American investment bankers whose children are
raised by Filipino maids.

Therefore, a large global city may be

paradise for some but for some people it is
like a purgatory.

Advantage In living in the city: Better medical facilities,

more jobs opportunities, more restaurants, malls, and
food

Disadvantages in Living in the cities: over – crowded,

higher noise level higher cost of living and higher crime

Conclusion
Global cities are sites and mediums of globalization.
They are materials representations of the phenomenon.
Through them, we see the best of globalization; they are
places that creates existing fusions of cultures and ideas.
They are also places that generate tremendous wealth.
However, they remain sites of great inequality, where
global servants serve global entrepreneurs.