Lesson 8: THE GLOBAL CITY
WHY STUDY GLOBAL CITIES?
- Globalization is spatial because it occurs in physical
spaces and what makes it move is the fact that it is
based in places.
- In 1950, only 30% of the world lived in urban areas.
- By 2014, that number increased to 54%.
- By 2050, it is expected to reach 66%.
DEFINING THE GLOBAL CITY
Saskia Sassen
- A sociologist who popularized the term “global city”
in the 1990s.
Three global cities: (The hubs of global finance and
capitalism)
- New York –has the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE).
 London - has the Financial Times Stock Exchange
(FTSE).
 Tokyo - has the Nikkei.
Criteria of Global City
A. Latest Development
 San Francisco - the most powerful internet
companies.
B. Growth of Economy
 Shanghai, Beijing & Guangzhou
- centers of trade and finance.
 The Chinese government reopened
the Shanghai Stock Exchange in late
1990, and has grown to become the
5th largest stock market in the world.
C. Great place to live in
 Australia, Sydney – the greatest proportion of
capital.
 Melbourne – is Sydney’s rival “global
city”
 “Most livable city” – a place with good
public transportation, a thriving cultural
scene, and an easy pace of life.
INDICATORS FOR GLOBALITY
Attributes of the global city:
A. Economic Power
 New York – is the largest stock market in the
world.
 Tokyo – the most number of corporate
headquarters (613 company headquarters while
N.Y has 217)
 Shanghai – has the smaller stock market
compared to N.Y and Tokyo, but plays the
critical role in the global economic.
-has the world’s busiest container port (33
million container unit in 2013).
 China – the manufacturing center of the world.
B. Economic Opportunities
 London – preferred destination for many
Filipinos with nursing degrees.
 Many top IT programmers and engineers
from Asia have moved to San Francisco
Bay Area to become some of the key
figures in Silicon Valley’s technology
boom.
Other Criteria was added by the Economic Intelligence Unit:
a) Market Size
b) Purchasing power of citizens
c) Size of the middle class
d) Potential for growth
Singapore – is considered as “Asia’s most competitive city”
Global Cities are:
a.) Centers of Authority
Washington D.C. – the seat of American state power.
Canberra – home to the country’s top politician bureaucrats
and policy adviser.
 The cities that house major international
organizations may also be considered centers of
political influence.
New York – the headquarter of the United Nation.
Brussels - the headquarter of the European Union.
Jakarta – an influential political city near Philippines.
- The location of the main headquarters of the ASEAN.
b.) Centers of higher learning and culture
 Many of the books that people read are published in
places like New York, London or Paris.
 The New York Times carries the name of New York
City.
 Many tourists visited Boston to see the Harvard
University – the world’s top university.
 Many Asian teenagers moved in Australia because of
the leading English-language universities.
 Education is Australia’s third export.
Los Angeles – the center of the American film industry and
considered as global city.
Copenhagen – the capital city of Denmark.
- considered one of the culinary capital of the
world.
Manchester, England – was dreary, industrial city.
Singapore – becoming a cultural hub for the region.
- houses some of the region’s top television stations
and new organizations (MTV Southeast Asia and Channel
News Asia).
 Global city become culturally diverse. One can try
cuisines from different parts of the world.
 Manila is not very global because of the dearth of
foreign residents, but Singapore is, because it has a
foreign population of 38%.
THE CHALLENGE OF GLOBAL CITIES
(Chicago Council on Global Affairs)
 Global cities conjure up images of fast-paced,
exciting cosmopolitan lifestyles.
 Global cities also can be sites of great inequality and
poverty as well as tremendous violence.
United States – have the lowest per capita carbon footprint.
Singapore & Tokyo – have relatively low per capita carbon
footprint.
Los Angeles – are urban sprawls, with massive freeways that
force residents to spend money on cars and gas.
Manila, Bangkok and Mumbai – are dense. They are lack
of public transportation.
  Urban areas consume most of the world’s energy.
 Cities only cover 2% of the world’s landmass, but
they consume 78%of global energy.
 The major terror attacks of recent years have targeted
cities.

THE GLOBAL CITY AND THE POOR

Economic Globalization – paved the way for massive

inequality.

Scandinavia - have found ways to migrate inequality through

state-led social redistribution programs.

Mumbai, Jakarta & Manila – we find the gleaming

buildings alongside massive shantytowns.

Gentrification – driving out the poor in favour of newer,

wealthier residents.

Banlieue – In France, poor Muslim migrants are forced out to

Paris and have clustered around ethnic enclaves.

Globalization – creates high-income jobs that are

concentrated in global cities.

 High earners, generate demand for an unskilled

labor force that will attend to their increasing needs.
 Many middle-income jobs in manufacturing and
business process outsourcing are moving to other
countries.

“A large global city may thus be a paradise for some, but a

purgatory for others”.