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Lesson 9 The Global City

Global cities are centers of economic power, culture, and global influence. They experience high levels of globalization through trade, finance, culture, and migration. Some key indicators of a global city include large economic power and opportunities, being a center of authority or international organizations, and hosting major universities and cultural institutions. However, global cities also face challenges like inequality, poverty, large energy consumption, and being targets for terrorist attacks due to their prominence. While some cities address inequality, many global cities see a widening gap between the wealthy and poor residents.

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1K views18 pages

Lesson 9 The Global City

Global cities are centers of economic power, culture, and global influence. They experience high levels of globalization through trade, finance, culture, and migration. Some key indicators of a global city include large economic power and opportunities, being a center of authority or international organizations, and hosting major universities and cultural institutions. However, global cities also face challenges like inequality, poverty, large energy consumption, and being targets for terrorist attacks due to their prominence. While some cities address inequality, many global cities see a widening gap between the wealthy and poor residents.

Uploaded by

ChadAclanParas
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LESSON EI GHT (8)

Why Study Global Cities?


Globalization is SPATIAL because…
• It occurs in physical spaces.
• What makes it move is the fact that it is based in places.

In the years to come, more and more people will experience


globalization through cities. (Ex: In 1950, only 30% lived in urban areas,
by 2014 that number increased to 54% and by 2050, it is expected to
reach 66%)
Defining the Global City
Saskia Sassen
Popularized the term “global city”

Criteria for what constitutes global city were primarily economic.


Hubs of global finance and capitalism -ex: homes of the world’s top stock
exchanges where investors buy and sell shares in major corporations.

3 global cities:
New York, London and Tokyo
Defining the Global City
• Though it is not as wealthy as NY, movie making mecca Los Angeles can now rival
the Big Apple’s cultural influence.

• San Francisco is another global city because it is the home of the most powerful
internet companies (FB, Twitter, and Google).

• Finally, the growth of the Chinese economy has turned cities like Shanghai,
Beijing, and Guangzhou into centers of trade and finance.

• Others consider some cities global simply because they are great places to live in.
(Ex: Melbourne)
Indicators of Globality
Economic power
Largely determines which cities are global. Ex: New York, Tokyo and Shanghai

Economic opportunities
Make global cities attractive to talents from across the world. Ex: IT
programmers and engineers from Asia moved to the San Francisco Bay Area
to become part in Silicon Valley’s technology boom.
Indicators of Globality
Economic competitiveness (criteria according to Economist
Intelligence Unit):
Market size
Purchasing power of the citizens
Size of the middle class
Potential for growth
Indicators of Globality
Centers of Authority
Ex: Washington D.C. is the seat of American state power (White House, the
Capitol Building-the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Lincoln Memorial and
the Washington Monument)

Housing major international organizations


Can also be considered centers of political influence.
UN in NY
EU in Brussels
ASEAN in Jakarta
European Central Bank in Frankfurt
Indicators of Globality
Centers of higher leaning and culture
City’s intellectual influence is seen through the influence of its publishing
industry.
Ex: NYC, London, Paris and Boston
The Challenges of Global Cities
• They can be sites of great inequality and poverty as well as
tremendous violence.

• Like the broader processes of globalization, global cities create


winners and losers.

• Some “pathologies” of the global city based on the research of the


Chicago Council on Global Affairs:
• Richard Florida: “Ecologists have found that by concentrating their
populations in smaller areas, cities and metros decrease human
encroachment on natural habitats.”
The Challenges of
Global Cities
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
SYSTEM
Not all cities have
extensive public transportation
system and their governments
are not able to regulate their
car industries, thus, these
made them extremely
polluted.
• Beijing, China
LARGE ENERGY CONSUMPTION
Urban areas consume most
of the world’s energy because of
its sheer size of city population.
In fact, even though cities only
cover 2% of the world’s landmass
they consume 78% of global
energy. This massive
consumption of energy can
contribute to global warming
TERROR ATTACKS

The major terror attacks


of recent years have also
targeted cities, especially those
with global influence, due to
high populations and their role
as symbols of globalization that
many terrorist despise.
• Paris
• London
• New York
The Global City and the Poor
• Some cities, particularly those in Scandinavia, have found ways to
mitigate inequality through state-led social redistribution
programs.
• However, in places like Mumbai, Jakarta and Manila, it is common
to find gleaming buildings alongside massive shantytowns.
• In the outskirts of NY and San Francisco are poor enclaves
occupied by African-Americans and immigrant families who are
often denied opportunities at a better life.
• Slowly, they are being forced to move farther away from the
economic centers of their cities.
The Global City and the Poor
Gentrification
The phenomenon of driving out the poor in favor of newer, wealthier
residents.
Ex: In France, poor Muslim migrants are forced 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.

A large global city may thus be a paradise for some, but a purgatory
or others.
Conclusion
• Global cities are sites and mediums of globalization.

• They are places that create 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.

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