The Global City

Much of the analysis of globalization has looked at how ideas of internationalism shaped modern
world politics. What we will learn here is that globalization is spatial. This statement means two things.
1. Globalization is spatial because it occurs in physical spaces. You can see it when foreign
investment and capital move through a city, and when companies build skyscrapers. People who are
working in these businesses start to purchase or rent high-rise condominium units and better homes.
As all these events happen, more poor people are driven out of city centers to make way for modern
developments.
2. Globalization is spatial, what makes it move is the fact that it is based in places. Los Angeles,
the home of Hollywood, is where movies are made for global consumption. The main headquarters of
Sony is in Tokyo, and from there, the company coordinates the sale of various electronics goods to
branches across the world. In other words, cities act on globalization and globalization acts on cities.
They are sites as well as a medium of globalization. Just as the internet enables and shapes global forces,
so too are cities.

Defining the Global City

Indicators for Globality
The foremost characteristic is economic power. It largely determines which cities are global. New
York may have the largest stock market in the world, but Tokyo houses the most number of corporate
headquarters. Shanghai may have a smaller stock market but plays a critical role in the global economic
supply chain ever since China has become the manufacturing center of the world.
Global cities are also centers of authority. Washington D.C. may not be as wealthy as New York
but it is the seat of American state power. People around the world know its major landmarks, the White
House, Congress, the Supreme Court, Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. Compared
with Sydney and Melbourne, Canberra in Australia is a sleepy town and thus not attractive to tourists,
but as Australia's political capital, it is home to top politicians, bureaucrats, and policy advisors.
Finally, global cities are centers for higher learning and culture. A city’s intellectual influence is
seen through the influence of its publishing industry. Many of the books that people read are published
in places like New York, Paris, or London. The New York Times carries the name New York City, and
people read it not just from across America, but also all over the world. One of the many reasons that
many tourists visit Boston is because they want to see Harvard University- the world’s top university.
Today, global cities have become culturally diverse. In a global city, one can try cuisines from
different parts of the world. Because of their large Turkish populations, for example, Berlin and Tokyo
offer some of the best Turkish food one can find outside Turkey. Manila is not very global because of
dearth of foreign residents, but Singapore is because it has a foreign population of 38%.
The Global City and the Poor
Many cities are sites of contradiction, particularly those in developing countries. In places like
Mumbai, Jakarta, and Manila, it is common to find gleaming buildings alongside shantytowns. This
duality may even be seen in rich, urban cities.
In most global cities, the middle class is also thinning out. Globalization creates high-income jobs
that are concentrated in global cities. These high earners, in turn, generate demand for an unskilled
labor force that will attend to their increasing needs. Many middle-income jobs in manufacturing and
business process outsourcing are moving to other countries. This hollowing out of the middle class in
global cities has heightened the inequality within them. in places like New York, there are high-rolling
investment hankers whose children are raised by Filipina maids. A large global city may thus be a
paradise for some, but a purgatory for others.

Conclusion
Global cities are sites and mediums of Globalization. They are the material representation of the
phenomenon. We see the best of globalization; they are places that create exciting fusions of culture
and ideas. They are places that create tremendous wealth. However, they remain sites of great
inequality, where global servants serve global entrepreneurs. The question of how globalization can be
more just is partly a question of how people make their cities more just.