SSC6
WHY STUDY GLOBAL CITIES?
▪ First, globalization is spatial because it occurs
in physical spaces.
▪ Second, globalization is spatial because what
makes it move is the fact that it is based in
places.
DEFINING THE GLOBAL CITY
Sociologist Saskia Sassen popularized the term “global
city” in the 1990s. Her criteria for what constitutes a
global city were primarily economic. In her work, she
initially identified three local cities: New York, London,
and Tokyo, all of which are hubs of global finance and
capitalism.
▪ New York has the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE) – represents the highest concentration
of capital in the world.
▪ London has the Financial Times Stock Exchange
(FTSE)
▪ Tokyo has the Nikkei
The global economy has changed significantly since
Sassen wrote her book, and any account of the
economic power of cities today must take note of the
latest developments. Recent commentators have
expanded the criteria that Sassen used to determine
what constitutes a global city. Though it is not as
wealthy as New York, movie-making mecca Los Angeles
can now rival the Big Apple’s cultural influence.
San Francisco is a home to the most powerful Internet
companies (Facebook, Twitter, and Google).
The growth of the Chinese economy has turned cities
like Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou, into centers of
trade and finance. The Chinese government reopened
the Shanghai Stock Exchange in late1990, and since
then, it has grown to become the fifth largest stock
market in the world.
Others consider some cities “global” simply because
they are great places to live in. In Australia, Sydney
commands the greatest portion of capital. Melbourne,
the most livable city, is described as Sydney’s rival
“global city.”
Indicators for globality
Largest stock market in the world
The foremost characteristic is the economic power.
Sassen remains correct in saying that economic power
largely determines which cities are global.
▪ China plays a critical role in the global
economic supply chain
Economic opportunities in a global city make it
attractive to 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.
Based on these criteria, “tiny” Singapore is considered
Asia’s most competitive city.
▪ London is preferred by immigrants, specifically
nurses, because they offer high salaries and
better employee benefits.
▪ San Francisco is preferred mainly by IT
programmers because of the economic
opportunities in Silicon Valley Technology.
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. Washington D.C. houses
the following:
▪ The White House
▪ U.S. Capitol Building
▪ Supreme Court of the United States
▪ Lincoln Memorial
▪ Washington Monument
Canberra is a sleepy town and thus is not as attractive
to tourists. But as Australia’s political capital, it is home
to the country’s top politicians, bureaucrats, and policy
advisors.
The cities that house major international organizations
may also be considered centers of political influence.
▪ Headquarters of the United Nations is in New
York
▪ Headquarters of the European Union is in
Brussels, Belgium
▪ The main headquarters of the ASEAN is in
Jakarta, Indonesia
▪ The most powerful headquarters are in Tokyo,
Japan
Global cities are centers of higher learning and culture.
A city’s intellectual influence is seen through the
influence of its publishing industry (e.g., The New York
Times, The Daily Mail)
▪ Harvard University is located in Cambridge,
Massachusetts
Education is currently Australia’s third largest export
just behind coal and iron ore, and significantly ahead of
tourism. In 2015, the Australian government reported
that it made as much as 19.2 billion Australian dollars shantytowns. This duality may even be seen in rich,
(roughly 14 billion US dollars) from education alone. urban cities.

Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, is now
considered one of the culinary capitals of the world,
with its top restaurants incommensurate with its size.
As the birthplace of “New Nordic” cuisine, Copenhagen
has set into motion various culinary trends like foraging
the forests for local ingredients.
Singapore, with its gleaming buildings, is often viewed
as a symbol of Asian modernity.
Some cities like Los Angeles are urban sprawls, with
massive freeways that force residents to spend money
on cars and gas. And while Manila, Bangkok, and
Mumbai are dense, their lack of public transportation
and their governments’ inability to regulate their car
industries have made them extremely polluted.
The challenges of global cities
Cities can be sustainable because of their density. As
Richard Florida notes: “Ecologists have found that by
concentrating their populations in smaller areas, cities
and metros decrease human encroachment on natural
habitats.”
In the outskirts of New York and San Francisco are poor
urban enclaves occupied by African-Americans and
immigrant families who are often denied of
opportunities at a better life.
This phenomenon of driving out the poor in favor of
newer, wealthier residents is called gentrification.
In Australian cities, poor aboriginal Australians have
been most acutely affected by this process.
In France, poor Muslim migrants are force 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 concentrated in global cities. These high
earners, in turn, generate demand for an unskilled
labor force (hotel cleaners, nannies, maids, waitresses,
etc.) that will attend to their increasing needs.
Meanwhile, many middle-income jobs in
manufacturing and business process outsourcing (i.e.,
call centers) are moving to other countries.

In cities with extensive public transportation systems, CONCLUSION

people tend to drive less and thereby cut carbon
omissions.
Because of the sheer size of city populations across the
world, it is not surprising that urban areas consume
most of the world’s energy. Cities only cover two
percent 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. This
action will require a lot of creativity.
Global cities, as noted in this lesson, are sites and
mediums of globalization. They are, therefore, material
representations of the phenomenon. Through them,
we see the best of globalization; they are places that
create exciting fusions of culture and ideas. They are
also places that generate tremendous wealth.
However, they remain sites of great inequality, where
global servants serve global entrepreneurs.

The major terror attacks of recent years have also

targeted cities. Cities, especially those with global
influence, are obvious targets for terrorists due to their
high populations and their role as symbols of
globalization that many terrorists despise.

The global city and the poor

Some large cities, particularly those in Scandinavia
(Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark), have found ways
to mitigate inequality through steeled social
retribution programs.

In places like Mumbai, Jakarta, and Manila, it is

common to find gleaming buildings alongside massive