GLOBAL CITY

WHY STUDIES GLOBAL

CITIES?
1). It occurs in physical spaces. An individual
can see it when foreign investments and
capital move through a city.

2). It is based on places. Cities act on

globalization and globalization acts on
cities.
Defining the Global City
• Also called as World City, Alpha
City, World Center - primary
node in the global economic
network.
The concept came from
geography and urban studies. The
idea of globalization is created,
facilitated, and enacted in strategic
 SASKIA SASSEN (1991) THE GLOBAL CITY

• Global City term was popularized by

Sassen in her 1991 work
- Global City status is considered beneficial
and desirable. Competing groups have
developed multiple alternative methods to
classify and rank world cities and to
distinguish them from non-world cities.
NYC
TOKYO

LONDON
 Indicators for Globality

• Economic Power- largely

determines which cities are global.
 NEW YORK CITY
• The largest stock
market in the
world.
• New York has 217
company
headquarters.
 Tokyo

• Houses the most

number of
corporate
headquarters
• 613 company
headquarters
(New York as its
closest competitor)
 Shanghai
• Small stock market
but plays a critical
role in the Global
Economic Supply
• China: Manufacturing
Center of the World
• Shanghai: World's
Busiest Container
Port (33 million units
 Economic Competitiveness
Economist Intelligence Unit criteria to
measure the economic competitiveness:
1). Market size
2). Purchasing power of citizens
3). Size of the Middle Class
4). Potential for growth
 Singapore
Asia's Most Competitive
City
1. strong market
2. efficient and
incorruptible
government
3. livability
 Houses the regional offices of
many major global corporations.
WASHINGTON D.C (UNITED CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA
STATES) 1. Australia's political
1. seat of American state capital
power 2. home of the country's
2. White House, the Capitol top politicians,
Building (Congess), the bureaucrats, and
Supreme Court, Lincoln policy advisors
Memorial, Washington
Monument
 Economic Opportunities
 Centers of Higher Learning and Culture
• IT Programmers and Engineers from Asia
haved moved to San Francisco Bay Area
• Silicon Valley's technology boom
• London - best choice for many Filipinos with
Nursing degrees
 The Challenges of Global Cities
- fast-paced
- exciting
- cosmopolitan lifestyle
BUT GLOBAL CUTIES ALSO HAVE THEIR UNDERSIDES
*winners *losers
• Cities can be sustainable because of their density
“Ecologist have found that by concentrating their populations in smaller
areas, cities, and metros decrease human encroachment on natural
habitats." -Richard Florida
Ex. Public transportation system (extensive train system)
Manila (Philippines) , Mumbai (India), Bangkok (Thailand)
 Terrorist Attacks
Lack of Public Transportation
• Manila (Philippines) • especially those with
GLOBAL INFLUENCE
• Mumbai (India)
• with high population
• Bangkok (Thailand)
• their role as symbols of
Globalization
GLOBAL CITY AND THE POOR

• Cities attract poor people with

the promise of economic
opportunity
• Inequality in global cities is
inexorable but not harmful.
 ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION
-paved the way for massive in equality.

ex: New York and San Francisco

• In the outskirt of New York and San
Francisco are poor urban enclaves
occupied by African-Americans and
immigrant families who often denied
opportunities at a better life.
 BANLIEUE
1. In France, poor Muslim migrants are forced out of Paris
and have clustered around ethnic enclaves known as
banlieue.
2. Globalization crates high-income jobs that are
concentrated in global cities. These high earners, in turn,
generate demand for an unskilled labor forced. (Hotel
cleaners, nannies, maids, waitresses, etc.)
3. A large global city may thus be a paradise for some,
but purgatory for others.
Gentrification
• As a city attracts more capital and richer
residents, real estate prices go up and poor
residents are forced to relocate to far away
but cheaper areas. This phenomenon of driving
out the poor in favor of newer, wealthier
residents is called gentrification.
• In Australia cities, poor aboriginal Australians
living in public urban housing, they were forced
to move farther away from city centers that
offer more jobs, more government services,
and better transportation due to gentrification.