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Lesson 3: Mobility, Diversity and Community in the Global City

Lesson Objectives:

• Explain why globalization is a spatial phenomenon.

• Identify the attributes of a global city.
• Analyze how cities serve as engines of globalization.

Getting Started:
New York, Paris, London – what comes to your mind when these places are
mentioned? Rich cities perhaps? Places worth visiting? These cities are famous
because they are geographic playgrounds of the globalizing forces; in this space
of population concentration and mixing, the global flows of people, capital and
ideas are woven into the daily lived experiences of its residents. It represents and,
in many ways, the world in a bounded space. In short, they are considered
“global cities.”
Discussion:
A. What is a Global City?

Global Cities are hubs of innovation, creativity and productivity and the
creators of new trends and fashions. Some cities are considered “global” simply
because they are great places to live in. For instance, Sydney is considered by
many as one of the most livable cities - a place with good public transportation,
a thriving culture scene, and a relatively easy pace of life. (Abinales & Claudio,
2018)

The global cities. Can you identify

what are these cities in the picture?
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B. What makes a Global City?

Saskia Sassen’s Criteria for Global Cities
Sociologist Saskia Sassen popularized the term “global city” in the 1990s.
Her criteria for what constitute a global city were primarily economic. Three
global cities that she identified are the following: New York, London and Tokyo –
all of which are hubs of global finance and capitalism. They are the homes of
world’s top exchanges where investors buy and sell shares in major corporations
– New York Stock Exchange in New York, Financial Times Stock Exchange in
London and Nikkei Stock Exchange in Tokyo. These are the command centers;
the main nodes of triumphant global capitalism.
Sharon Zukin’s Criteria for Global Cities

Sharon Zukin (1998) considered New York, London and Paris as global cities
because these cities are at the top of cultural innovation and are attractive to
tourists. Tourists are a constant and visible presence in the global cities are the
only people full devoted to cosmopolitan consumption during their short, hyper-
mobile-unreality known as overseas holiday.

Famous Skylines. From top left to bottom right. London, Tokyo City, New York City and Paris
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Global City Power City Index by the Japanese Mori Foundation Criteria for Global
Cities

In 2017, the Japanese Mori Foundation published the Global City Power
Index that indicated 6 criteria for Global Cities. These criteria are: economy,
research and development, cultural interaction, livability, environment and
accessibility. The top global cities cited in the report are: New York, London, Paris,
Tokyo and Singapore.

C. Indicators for Globality

Recent studies expanded the criteria for global cities. Cities are
considered global primarily based on their economic power. These cities also
serve as centers of political authority and centers of higher learning and culture
in the world.

Global Cities: Economic Powerhouses

Economic power is the foremost characteristic of a global city. Global
cities that serve as centers of world economy are New York, Tokyo and

Shanghai. The largest stock market in the world is located in New York.
Meanwhile, Tokyo houses the greatest number of corporate headquarters and
Shanghai plays a critical role in the global economic supply chain ever since
China has become the manufacturing center of the world. It also has the busiest
container port, moving over 33 million container units in 2013.
Economic opportunities in a global city make it attractive to talents from
across the globe. The San Francisco Bay Area is the primary destination for many
top IT programmers and engineers from Asia while London is the preferred
destination for many Filipino nurses. Knowledge workers or the professional class
are the key workforce in the global cities. They are highly mobile, career-minded
middle class.
The Economic Intelligence Unit listed 4 measures of economic
competitiveness that constitute a global city. These are market size, purchasing
power of citizens, size of the middle class and potential for growth. Based on these
criteria, Singapore is considered to be Asia’s most competitive city. It also houses
the regional offices of many global corporations.
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Global Cities: Centers of Global Political Authority

Global cities are also concentrations of geopolitical power. Global cities
house the major international organizations. The United Nations Headquarters is
located in New York. The European Union has its headquarters in Brussels in
Belgium. In Southeast Asia, Jakarta is the home of the main headquarters of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Global Cities as Centers of Higher Learning and Culture

Global cities are considered cultural trendsetting powerhouses, higher
education hubs and playgrounds of creative industries such as arts, fashion and
design. Most important 21st century cities are those which represent “brain hubs”
that are the concentrations of innovative people and firms and are also good
human ecosystems for cutting edge businesses, providing all the support functions
or secondary services for the innovators (Moretti, 2012)

Worldwide, most books are published in New York, London and Paris. These
cities’ intellectual influence is seen through its publishing industry. Harvard
University is located in Boston. Los Angeles, where Hollywood is located, is the
center of American film industry. Singapore is considered the cultural hub of Asia
where some of the regions news organizations and art galleries are located.

Global Power City Index of 2017

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D. Challenges of Global Cities

Cosmopolitanism is a phenomenon most readily associated with the global
city: large, diverse cities attract people, material and cultural products all over
the world. Cultural diversity is a key marker of the global city and a consequence
of human mobility and migration. Urban cultural diversity is a creative mirror to
the paradox of economic polarization because cities continue to attract the
extremes of poor, migrant and footloose populations, but also the affluent and
the super-rich. The presence of the professional class led to gentrification or the
process of social class polarization and residential segregation of the affluent to
the poor.

Life in global cities has been celebrated as the pinnacle of civilization,

however, it is also deplored and decried as harmful, polluting, ruthless, stressful
and unnatural, alienating people from the natural milieu and from each other.
Global cities are also concentrations of demi-monde and social ills of all kinds.
Some of the downsides of a life in a global city are high housing costs, long
working hours, competitive and precarious labor market, long commuting times,
urban anonymity, relative social isolation, fear of strangers and crime and
residential hyper-mobility.
Hypermobility of competitive cosmopolitans does not allow much room for
community life. There exists a disintegration of locally grounded, shared
community living (Bauman, 2005). The residents of a global city are living in a
fragmented and atomized social world where self-responsibility increasingly
substitutes for social solidarity. The socioeconomic dynamic of the global city
gives primacy to the consumer culture which promises instantaneous gratification
and happiness.

.
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Summary of the Lesson:

A global city is the main physical and geographic playground of the
globalizing forces; in this space of population concentration and mixing, the
global flows of people, capital and ideas are woven into the daily lived
experiences of its residents. Cities are considered global primarily based on their
economic power. These cities also serve as centers of political authority and
centers of higher learning and culture in the world.

Life in global cities has been celebrated as the pinnacle of civilization,

however, it is also deplored and decried as harmful, polluting, ruthless, stressful
and unnatural, alienating people from the natural milieu and from each other.
Global cities are also concentrations of demi-monde and social ills of all kinds.
Some of the downsides of a life in a global city are high housing costs, long
working hours, competitive and precarious labor market, long commuting times,
urban anonymity, relative social isolation, fear of strangers and crime and
residential hyper-mobility.