22/06/2022

Why Study Global

Cities?

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Why Study Global Cities?

 “Global cities” are and always have been both,

products and producers of globalization. They play
an important role in shaping a global economy,
culture and society, but they are also shaped by it.
And they are places where countervailing forces
match and local reactions to globalization become
especially visible.
 Cities are the engines of globalization. They are
social magnets, growing faster and faster.

Globalization is Spatial

 It occurs in physical spaces

 What makes it move is the fact that it is based in
places.

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What is GLOBAL
CITY?

SOCIOLOSIST SASKIA SASSEN

 POPULARIZED THE TERM GLOBAL CITY IN 1990s

 HER CRITERIA FOR WHAT CONSTITUTES A GLOBAL
CITY WERE PRIMARILY ECONOMIC
 INITIALLY IDENTIFIED THREE GLOBAL CITIES:NEW YORK,
LONDON AND TOKYO (HUBS OF GLOBAL FINANCE
AND CAPITALISM)
 HOMES OF THE WORLD’S TOP STOCK EXCHANGES
 NYSE, FTSE, NIKKEI

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INDICATORS OF GLOBALITY

 ECONOMIC POWER
 NEW YORK HAS THE LARGEST STOCK MARKET BUT
 TOKYO HOUSES THE MOST NUMBER OF CORPORATE
HEADQUARTERS (613)
 SHANGHAI PLAYS A CRITICAL ROLE IN THE GLOBAL
ECONOMY SUPPLY NA HAS THE WORD’S BUSIEST
CONTAINER PORT (33M CONTAINER UNITS IN 2013)
 ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

INDICATORS OF GLOBALITY

 ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS
 MARKET SIZE, PURCHASING POWERS OF CITIZENS, SIZE OF
THE MIDDLE CLASS, AND POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH
 CENTERS OF AUTHORITY
 POLITICAL INFLUENCE
 HQ OF UN IN NEW YORK
 JAKARTA (ASEAN)

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INDICATORS OF GLOBALITY

 CENTERS OF HIGHER LEARNING AND

 HARVARD IN BOSTON
 CULTURE
 LOS ANGELES, THE CENTER OF AMERICAN FILM
INDUSTRY
 COPENHAGEN, THE BIRTHPLACE OF “NEW NORDIC”
CUISINE

PUSH AND PULL FACTORS

PUSH PULL
 Push factors encourage  Pull factors attract migrants
people to leave their points to new areas.
of origin and settle
 Example: Abundance of
elsewhere
job opportunities
 Example:
Underemployment

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CHALLENGES OF GLOBAL CITY

 CAN BE SITES OF GREAT INEQUALITY AND POVERTY

AS WELL AS TREMENDOUS VIOLENCE
 DECREASE HUMAN ENCROACHMENT ON NATURAL
HABITATS
 YIELDS ENERGY SAVINGS
 PEOPLE TEND TO DRIVE LESS THEREBY CUT CARBON
EMISSIONS

GENTRIFICATION

 THE PHENOMENON OF DRIVING OUT THE POOR IN

FAVOR OF NEWER, WELTHIER RESIDENTS.