Understanding Global Cities

• The learning outcomes for this lesson include explaining why globalization is a spatial phenomenon, identifying the attributes of global cities, and analyzing how cities serve as engines of globalization.

Global City Concept

• Sociologist Saskia Sassen popularized "global city" in the 1990s.
• Sassen initially identified New York, London, and Tokyo as the three global cities.
• New York has the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
• London has the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE).
• Tokyo has the Nikkei.
• Recent commentators have expanded the criteria for determining what constitutes a global city.
• Los Angeles can rival New York's cultural influence due to its movie-making Mecca.
• San Francisco is a global city because it is home to powerful internet companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google.
• The growth of the Chinese economy has turned cities like Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou into centers of trade and finance.

Indicators of Globality

• Economic power is the foremost characteristic of a global city.
• Economic opportunities in a global city make it attractive to talent.
• To measure a city's economic competitiveness, the Economist Intelligence Unit has added criteria like market size, purchasing power, middle class size, and potential for growth.
• Singapore is considered Asia's most competitive city due to its strong market, efficient and incorruptible government, and livability.
• Global cities are also centers of authority.
• Washington D.C. is the seat of American state power.
• Canberra functions as Australia's political capital, housing top politicians, bureaucrats, and policy advisors.
• Cities that house major international organizations are political influence centers.
  • United Nations headquarters is located in New York.
  • The European Union headquarters is located in Brussels.
  • ASEAN headquarters is located in Jakarta.
  • The European Central Bank is in Frankfurt.
• Global cities are centers of higher learning and culture
• Los Angeles is the center of the American film industry.
• Copenhagen, Denmark is considered a culinary capital with top restaurants.
• Manchester, England is known for prominent post-punk and new wave bands like Joy Division, the Smiths, and the Happy Mondays.
• Singapore houses top television stations and news organizations like MTV Southeast Asia and Channel News Asia.
• Singapore's art galleries and cinemas showcase artists and filmmakers from the Philippines and Thailand.
• Global cities have become culturally diverse.
• Singapore has a foreign population of 38%.
• Manila is not considered a very global city due to its dearth of foreign residents.

Cities as Engines of Globalization

• Cities are social magnets that are constantly growing.
• Urban life has become the dominant form of human life globally.
• Cities function as economic growth engines.