Global Cities

Global Cities

Many social scientists argue that we are moving away from the
age of nations, to the age of cities.
Some theorists maintain that cities will become islands of
governance replacing nations as the most critical political unit.
 Moscow
 Washington
 Beijing
 Pyongyang
Global Cities
Understanding how cities
function in the global system,
how they are transformed by
their roles in global networks,
and how their institutional and
social fabrics transform the
global networks is central to
understanding the impact of
globalization on people’s
everyday lives.
The Nature of Cities
Over half of the worlds’ population live in cities. Cities have been central to
globalization process from the earliest phases, shaping and being shaped by
globalization forces.
The Nature of Cities

The First Cities

 Hunting and gathering forced people to
move all the time;

 Once our ancestors discovered how to

domesticate animals and cultivate crops,
they were able to stay in one place.
The Nature of Cities

The First Cities

 Raising their own food also created a material surplus, which freed
some people from food production and allowed them to build shelters,
make tools, weave cloth, and take part in religious rituals.

 The emergence of cities led to both higher living standards and job
specialization.
The Nature of Cities
The First Cities
 The first city that we know of was
Jericho, which lies to the north of the
Dead Sea in what is now the West Bank.
When first settled some 10,000 years
ago, it was home to only 600 people.

 But as the centuries passed, cities grew

to tens of thousands of people and
became the centers of vast empires.
The Nature of Cities
Ancient Cities: The Silk Road (130 BCE,
1453)
 Cities form and inform networks across regions and civilizations.
 The Silk Road connected cities along its main arterial routes, forming
global markets and connected cities
 Great cultures were created along these roads, variation of older cultures
emerged.
The Nature of Cities
The Industrial Cities (1870’s-1900s)
 The center of production and commerce shifted to Europe.
 It was the best and worst of times.
The Nature of Cities
The Industrial Cities
 Life in the city also gave birth to the modern individual (human rights,
civil right, workers rights, beliefs, etc.)
 Internal migration and immigration changed the faces, colors, sights,
sounds, and smells of urban life.
 The cities freed individuals. It released people from the unjust inequality
imposed by tradition and arbitrary authorities and prejudices of the small
town.
The Nature of Cities
Contemporary Cities
 Beginning of the 20th century, cites were centers of
manufacturing and commerce. They were filthy from burning
fossil fuels, lack of sewage and sanitation and homelessness.
 As manufacturing moved from many cities; cities became
visibly cleaner--- in imagined and stylized form.
The Nature of Cities

Contemporary Cities
“cities spilled over their political boundaries and become “metropolitan
regions” with much of the industry and manufacturing moving into outlaying
areas.
The Nature of Cities

Contemporary Cities
“strategic centers, rather than
manufacturing enters
– Corporate headquarters
– “occupy movements”
– Protests are likely to be
permanent part of the political
landscape of the global era.

Manfred Steger calls the "global justice

movement"
The Nature of Cities

Global Cities
(world city, 1960’s-1980’s)
• Particular type of city that emerged with
globalization.
• Hub of power: political and economic, national,
and international--- integrated with other hubs
of power
The Nature of Cities
Global Cities
 Global cities are home to “iconic architecture” (stunning
design, one-of-a-kind, famous)
 Bearing little resemblance to the cities they “represent”.
 Iconic architecture give skylines of global cities a
“fantasy-like” quality.
The Nature of Cities

Global Cities
“the control of production, consumption, finance,
and commerce from around d the world became
more concentrated in particular cities”

Distinguished by the extent of its influence round

the world and not the size of their population.
Global Cities
Life in Global Cities
1. Command centers for production, commercial and
financial enterprises
2. Connectivity: executives remotely manage/ control
other facilities
3. Advanced services: financial planners, stockbrokers,
tax attorneys, consultants
Global Cities

Life in Global Cities

Two Types of Workers
Juxtaposition of the most powerful classes and the least
powerful
1. Wealthy and elite groups : executives, advisers
2. Low-paid service workers
 Both are migrant classes
 The elite: political, business interests, tax purposes, etc.
 Poor: global interests; to send money home.
 Global Cities
Life in Global Cities
1. The elite class demand culturally rich life of restaurants,
films, theater and activities
2. Services demanded by the elite class are labor intensive
(laundry, dining, infrastructures)
Global Cities 2016
 Which global cities are performing best today,
 which have the best long-term potential, and
 what makes a “smart city”?
Global Cities
A truly global city is measured by its ability to
attract and retain global capital, people, and
ideas, as well as sustain that performance in the
long term.
Global Cities
Global Cities Index
an examination of a city’s current performance based on 27 metrics across
five dimensions:
 business activity,
 human capital,
 information exchange,
 cultural experience, and
 political engagement.
Global Cities
providesinsight into the global reach, performance, and level of
development of the world’s largest cities.
compares of diverse cities—such as New York and Shanghai—to help draw
unique conclusions about their shared strengths and core differences.
Global Cities

Ranking the cities

 provide a unique look at 125 of the world’s largest and most
influential cities today and those primed to make an impact
in the future.
 They help to identify the current key players and those cities
that might be tomorrow’s change makers.
Global Cities

What makes a city smart?

 In general terms, places technology at the core of its
development strategy.
“Communities that are building an infrastructure to
continuously improve the collection, aggregation, and use of
data to improve the life of their residents—by harnessing
the growing data revolution, low-cost sensors, and
research collaborations, and doing so securely to protect
safety and privacy.”
Global Cities