A city acting as a focus for world finance and trade flows. Twenty-five cities effectively control almost all the world's financial transactions, and New York, London, and Tokyo are at the top of the hierarchy (N. Thrift and R. Martin 1994).
Global cities are also marked by large-scale in-migration and increasing income and occupational polarization. S. Sassen (1991) argues that global cities are witnessing large-scale immigration because migration to rich countries is partly set in motion by flows of foreign direct investment into poorer countries, and because ‘producer services’, like law, accountancy, management, and financial consulting, drive immigration through a demand for low-paid jobs. Global cities are the sites of increasing disparities in income and occupation because increased earnings inequality, together with sharply inflated prices for business inputs, commercial space, and labour, have led to informalization, often under ‘sweatshop’ conditions. Immigrants and other ethnic minorities cannot afford the luxury goods that are offered in global cities. They then seek necessary goods from ‘co-ethnic’ producers, and/or from other low-cost immigrant-run shops. Similarly, the type of niche-market small-batch goods aimed at more affluent consumers associated with the gentrification of large cities leads to labour-intensive, small-scale subcontracting, dominated by migrants.
The growth of the migrant population in global cities has led to an expansion of small-scale producers that can effectively compete with large chain stores and supermarkets, although competition is intense, returns are extremely marginal, and this in turn drives the demand for ever cheaper labour.
Global city
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A global city (also called world city or sometimes alpha city) is a city deemed to be an important node point in the global economic system. The concept comes from geography and urban studies and rests on the idea that globalization can be understood as largely created, facilitated and enacted in strategic geographic locales according to a hierarchy of importance to the operation of the global system of finance and trade. The most complex of these entities is the "global city," whereby the linkages binding a city have a direct and tangible effect on global affairs through socio-economic means.[1] The terminology of "global city", as opposed to megacity, is thought to have been first coined by Saskia Sassen in reference to London, New York and Tokyo in her 1991 work The Global City,[2] though the term "world city" to describe cities which control a disproportionate amount of global business dates to at least Patrick Geddes' use of the term in 1915.[3]
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Criteria
Global City or world city status is seen as beneficial, and because of this many groups have tried to classify and rank which cities are seen as 'world cities' or 'non-world cities'.[3] Although there is a consensus upon leading world cities,[4] the criteria upon which a classification is made can affect which other cities are included.[3] The criteria for identification tend either to be based on a "yardstick value" ("e.g. if the producer-service sector is the largest sector, then city X is a world city")[3] or on an "imminent determination" ("if the producer-service sector of city X is greater than the producer-service sector of N other cities, then city X is a world city").[3]
Economic characteristics
- Corporate headquarters for multinational corporations, international financial institutions, law firms, , conglomerates, and stock exchanges that have influence over the world economy.
- Significant financial capacity/output: city/regional[5] GDP[6]
- Stock market indices[7]/market capitalisation
- Financial service provision;[8] e.g., banks, accountancy
- Costs of living[9] personal wealth; e.g., number of billionaires[10]
Political characteristics
- Active influence on and participation in international events and world affairs; for example, Washington, Berlin, Brussels are major capitals of influential nations or unions.
- Hosting headquarters for international organizations (World Bank), NATO headquarters
- A large proper, population of the municipality (the centre of a metropolitan area, typically several million) or agglomeration
- Diverse demographic constituencies[11] based on various indicators:[12] population, habitat,[13] mobility,[14] and urbanisation[15]
- Quality of life standards[16] or city development[17]
- Expatriate communities
Cultural characteristics
- International, first-name familiarity; whereby a city is recognized without the need for a political subdivision. For example, although there are numerous cities and other political entities with the name Paris or variations on it, one would say "Paris", not "Paris, France".
- Renowned cultural institutions (often with high endowments), such as notable museums and galleries, notable opera, Orchestras, notable film centres and theatre centres. A lively cultural scene, including film festivals (such as the Berlinale), premieres, a thriving music scene, nightlife, an opera company, art galleries, and street performers, annual parades.
- Several influential media outlets with an international reach, such as the BBC, Reuters, The New York Times, or Agence France-Presse.
- A strong sporting community, including major sports facilities, home teams in major league sports, and the ability and historical experience to host international sporting events such as the Olympic Games, Football World Cup, or Grand Slam tennis events.[18]
- Educational institutions; e.g., universities,[19] international student attendance,[20] research facilities
- Sites of pilgrimage for world religions
- Cities containing World Heritage Sites of historical and cultural significance[21]
- Tourism throughput
- City as site or subject in Arts and Media, TV, Film, Video Games, Music, Literature, Magazines, Articles, Documentary
- City as an often repeated historic reference, showcase, or symbolic actions
Infrastructural characteristics
- An advanced transportation system that includes several highways and/or a large mass transit network offering multiple modes of transportation (rapid transit, light rail, regional rail, ferry, or bus).
- Extensive and popular[22] mass transit systems, prominent rail usage,[23] road vehicle usage,[24] major seaports[25]
- A major international airport that serves as an established hub for several international airlines, for example, London. Airports with significant passenger traffic and international passengers traffic.[26] or cargo movements
- An advanced communications infrastructure on which modern trans-national corporations rely, such as fiberoptics, Wi-Fi networks, cellular phone services, and other high-speed lines of communications. For example, Seoul and Tokyo are known as the digital and technology capitals of the world.
- Health facilities; e.g. hospitals, medical laboratories
- Prominent skylines/skyscrapers[27]
Studies
GaWC studies
One of the first attempts to define, categorize, and rank global cities was made in 1998 by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) based at the geography department of Loughborough University, United Kingdom. The roster was outlined in the GaWC Research Bulletin 5 and ranked cities based on their provision of "advanced producer services" such as accountancy, advertising, finance, and law.[4] The GaWC inventory identifies three levels of global cities and several sub-ranks. This roster generally denotes cities in which there are offices of certain multinational corporations providing financial and consulting services rather than denoting other cultural, political, and economic centres.
Another attempt to redefine and re-categorise leading global cities was made by GaWC in 2004. This new roster acknowledged several new indicators but still ranked economics ahead of political or cultural importance.
The GaWC in 2008 re-published their roster of leading world cities. This roster, similar to the 1998 version is sorted through categories of "Alpha" world cities (four categories), "Beta" world cities (three categories), "Gamma" world cities (three categories), and cities with "High sufficiency" and "Sufficiency" world cities presence.
The GaWC's latest roster of leading Alpha, Beta and Gamma World Cities is reproduced below; see the source for the complete roster:[28][29]
Alpha World Cities ++:
Alpha World Cities +:
Alpha World Cities:
Alpha World Cities –:
Beta World Cities +:
Beta World Cities:
Beta World Cities –:
Gamma World Cities +:
Gamma World Cities:
Gamma World Cities –:
Global Cities Index
In October 2008, the American journal Foreign Policy, in conjunction with consulting firm A. T. Kearney and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, published a ranking of global cities, based on consultation with Saskia Sassen, Witold Rybczynski, and others. Foreign Policy noted that "the world’s biggest, most interconnected cities help set global agendas, weather transnational dangers, and serve as the hubs of global integration. They are the engines of growth for their countries and the gateways to the resources of their regions."[30]
The rankings are based on the evaluation of 24 metrics in five areas: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. The top thirty of the 60 cities ranked were:
| Rank | City | Best category (position in that category) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York City | Business Activity and Human Capital (1st) |
| 2 | London | Cultural Experience (1st) |
| 3 | Paris | Information Exchange (1st) |
| 4 | Tokyo | Business Activity (2nd) |
| 5 | Hong Kong | Business Activity and Human Capital (5th) |
| 6 | Los Angeles | Human Capital (4th) |
| 7 | Singapore | Business Activity (6th) |
| 8 | Chicago | Human Capital (3rd) |
| 9 | Seoul | Information Exchange (5th) |
| 10 | Toronto | Cultural Experience (4th) |
| 11 | Washington, D.C. | Political Engagement (1st) |
| 12 | Beijing | Political Engagement (7th) |
| 13 | Brussels | Information Exchange (2nd) |
| 14 | Madrid | Information Exchange (9th) |
| 15 | San Francisco | Human Capital (12th) |
| 16 | Sydney | Human Capital (8th) |
| 17 | Berlin | Cultural Experience (8th) |
| 18 | Vienna | Political Engagement (9th) |
| 19 | Moscow | Cultural Experience (6th) |
| 20 | Shanghai | Business Activity (8th) |
| 21 | Frankfurt | Business Activity (11th) |
| 22 | Bangkok | Political Engagement (13th) |
| 23 | Amsterdam | Business Activity (10th) |
| 24 | Stockholm | Information Exchange (13th) |
| 25 | Mexico City | Cultural Experience (9th) |
| 26 | Zürich | Information Exchange (8th) |
| 27 | Dubai | Information Exchange (14th) |
| 28 | Istanbul | Political Engagement (8th) |
| 29 | Boston | Human Capital (9th) |
| 30 | Rome | Cultural Experience (15th) |
Global Power City Index
The Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation in Tokyo, Japan issued a comprehensive study of 35 global cities in October 2009. The ranking is based on six overall categories, "Economy," "Research & Development," "Cultural Interaction," "Livability," "Ecology & Natural Environment," and "Accessibility," with 69 individual indicators among them.[31] This Japanese ranking also breaks down top ten world cities ranked in subjective categories such as "manager, researcher, artist, visitor and resident."
| Rank | City | Score | Best category (position) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York City | 330.4 | Economy (1.) Research & Development (1.) |
| 2 | London | 322.3 | Cultural Interaction (1.) |
| 3 | Paris | 317.8 | Livability (1.) Accessibility (1.) |
| 4 | Tokyo | 305.6 | Economy (2.) Research & Development (2.) |
| 5 | Singapore | 274.4 | Economy (5.) Cultural Interaction (5.) |
| 6 | Berlin | 259.3 | Livability (2.) |
| 7 | Vienna | 255.1 | Ecology & Natural Environment (3.) |
| 8 | Amsterdam | 250.5 | Accessibility (3.) |
| 9 | Zürich | 242.5 | Ecology & Natural Environment (2.) |
| 10 | Hong Kong | 242.5 | Economy (4.) |
| 11 | Madrid | 242.5 | Ecology & Natural Environment (7.) Accessibility (7.) |
| 12 | Seoul | 242.1 | Research & Development (4.) |
| 13 | Los Angeles | 240.0 | Research & Development (5.) |
| 14 | Sydney | 237.3 | Ecology & Natural Environment (9.) |
| 15 | Toronto | 234.6 | Livability (5.) |
| 16 | Frankfurt | 232.9 | Accessibility (5.) |
| 17 | Copenhagen | 231.7 | Economy (9.) Livability (9.) |
| 18 | Brussels | 229.9 | Livability (8.) |
| 19 | Geneva | 229.7 | Ecology & Natural Environment (1.) |
| 20 | Boston | 226.2 | Research & Development(6.) |
Following positions and scores:
21. Shanghai (224.1), 22. Chicago (221.1), 23. Vancouver (219.1), 24. San Francisco (218.1), 25. Osaka (215.1), 26. Beijing (211.4), 27. Kuala Lumpur (204.1), 28. Milan (203.5), 29. Bangkok (199.1), 30. Fukuoka (196.5), 31. Taipei (195.9), 32. Moscow (179.5), 33. Sao Paulo (177.7), 34. Mumbai (165.5), 35. Cairo (132.2)
Statistics
See also
References
- ^ Sassen, Saskia - The global city: strategic site/new frontier
- ^ Sassen, Saskia - The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. (1991) - Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-07063-6
- ^ a b c d e Doel,M. & Hubbard, P., (2002), "Taking World Cities Literally: Marketing the City in a Global Space of flows",City, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 351-368. Subscription required
- ^ a b GaWC Research Bulletin 5, GaWC, Loughborough University, 28 July 1999
- ^ Urban Characteristics,City Level, 1993PDF (61.6 KB), "World Resources 1998-99", WRI, 1998.
- ^ Global Urban Indicators Database 2 (1998 data) (data sets in .ZIP), UN-HABITAT
- ^ World Indices, Bloomberg
- ^ J.V. Beaverstock, World City Networks 'From Below', GaWC, Loughborough University, 29 September 2005
- ^ a b Mercer's 2008 Cost of living highlights, Mercer, 02 June 2009
- ^ The World's Billionaires, Forbes, 2008
- ^ Chapter 5: Globalization and cultural choicePDF (352 KB), "2004 Human Development Report" (page 99), UNDP, 2004
- ^ Chapter 9: Urban DataPDF (196 KB), "World Resources 1998-99", WRI, 1998
- ^ City Profiles, UN
- ^ Mobility 2001PDF (1.59 MB), WBCSD
- ^ WORLD URBANIZATION PROSPECTS: THE 2003 REVISIONPDF (3.73 MB), UN, 2004
- ^ World-wide quality of living survey, Mercer, 10 April 2006
- ^ The city development indexPDF, "THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S CITIES REPORT 2001", UN-HABITAT, 21 June 2006
- ^ P. De Groote, Economic and Tourism Aspects of the Olympic Games, GaWC, Loughborough University, 21 September 2005
- ^ [1]PDF (registration required)
- ^ K. O'Connor, International Students and Global Cities, GaWC, Loughborough University, 17 February 2005
- ^ World Heritage List, UNESCO
- ^ Estimated Ridership of the World’s Largest Public Transit Systems, 1998
- ^ COMMUTER RAIL (SUBURBAN RAIL, REGIONAL RAIL) IN THE UNITED STATES: INTERNATIONAL CONTEXTPDF (218 KB), October 2003
- ^ Traffic Intensity by International Urban Area: 1990
- ^ Largest seaports of the world
- ^ Mapping the Global Network Economy on the Basis of Air Passenger Transport Flows, GaWC, Loughborough University, 8 December 2004
- ^ The World's Best Skylines
- ^ "The World According to GaWC 2008". Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC). Loughborough University. http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2008t.html. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
- ^ "The World According to GaWC 2008 - Graph". Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC). Loughborough University. http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/world2008c.html. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
- ^ "The 2008 Global Cities Index". Foreign Policy (November/December 2008). October 21, 2008. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4509. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
- ^ "Global Power City Index 2009". Tokyo, Japan: Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation. October 22, 2009. http://www.mori-m-foundation.or.jp/english/research/project/6/pdf/GPCI2009_English.pdf. Retrieved 2009-10-29.
- ^ R.L. Forstall, R.P. Greene, and J.B. Pick, "Which are the largest? Why published populations for major world urban areas vary so greatly", City Futures Conference, (University of Illinois at Chicago, July 2004) – Table 5 (p.34)
- ^ gstudy.com international statisticsPDF (522 KB)
- ^ http://www.aci.aero/aci/aci/file/Press%20Releases/2007_PRs/PR_180707_TOP10.pdf
- ^ In Pictures: Top Billionaire Cities, Forbes, 3 June 2009
- ^ PriceWaterhouseCoopers, "UK Economic Outlook, March 2007", page 5. ""Table 1.2 – Top 30 urban agglomeration GDP rankings in 2005 and illustrative projections to 2020 (using UN definitions and population estimates)"" (PDF). http://www.ukmediacentre.pwc.com/imagelibrary/downloadMedia.asp?MediaDetailsID=863. Retrieved 2007-03-09.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Global City |
- Repository of Links Relating to Urban Places
- World Cities article by Jennifer Curtis of Charles Sturt University
- The World-System’s City System: A Research Agenda by Jeffrey Kentor and Michael Timberlake of the University of Utah and David Smith of University of California, Irvine
- The State of the World's Cities, 2001, UN Human Settlements Programme
- "U.S. Cities in the 'World City Network'", by Peter J. Taylor and Robert E. Lang, February 2005 (Full Report in PDF)
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