global cities

• global city

  • central sites for advances services and facilities of telecommunication which are necessary for the execution and the management of global economic activities
• characteristics:

  1. cultural diversity of the people
  2. existence of a center of economy
  3. geographical dispersal of economic activities that marks globalization
  4. global reach performane
• global city index:

  • business activity
  • human capital
  • information exchange
  • cultural experience
  • political engagement
• business activity - presence of headquarters, service firms, number of international conferences, value of goods through ports and airports
• human capital - size of foreign-born population, quality of universities, number of international conferences, international studies
• information exchange - accessibility of major tv news, number of international news bureaus
• cultural experience - number of sporting events, museums, performing art venues
• political engagement - number of embassies, consulates, international organizations, political conferences
• global power city index:

  • economy
  • research and development
  • cultural interaction
  • livability
  • environment
  • accessibility
• 3 levels of world cities:

  • alpha cities
  • beta cities
  • gamma cities
• alpha cities:

  • london
  • new york
  • paris
  • tokyo
  • hong kong
  • los angeles
• new york

  • highest in terms of business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement, and have the
  • largest stock market in the world i.e., NYSE - New York Stock Exchange
• london

  • 4% of the city is green space, greenest city
  • around 40% of the world’s foreign equities are traded here i.e., FTSE- Financial Times Stock Exchange (London)
  • businesses thrive and much larger than that of New York
  • major time-zone advantage for doing business with Asia
• paris

  • quintessential global city, has been
  • one of the world's most visited places for centuries
• tokyo

  • most number of corporate headquarters, i.e., Nikkei
  • largest world city-region globally, and is the location where many of Japan's advanced functions are centralized.
  • largest world city-region globally, and is the location where many of Japan's advanced functions are centralized.ns are centralized.
• hong kong

  • most expensive city in the world mainly due to its high housing prices
• los angeles

  • home of Hollywood, where movies are made for global consumption.
• beta cities

  • san francisco
  • melbourne
  • sydney
  • seoul
• san francisco

  • home of the most powerful internet companies- Facebook, Twitter, and Google.
• melbourne

  • “most livable city,” a place with good public transportation, a thriving cultural scene and relatively easy pace of life
• australia, sydney

  • commands the greatest proportion of capital
• Shanghai, Beijing & Guangzhou

  • centers of trade and finance
• gamma cities

  • bangkok
  • kuala lumpur
  • manila
  • shanghai
• indicators for globality:

  • Economic Power
  • Centers of Authority
  • Centers of higher learning and culture
• economic power

  • Shanghai - may have the smaller stock market but plays a critical role in the global economic supply chain ever since China has become the manufacturing center of the world
  • Singapore- considered Asia’s most competitive city because of its strong market, efficient and incorruptible government, and livability
• central authority

  • Washington D.C.- seat of American state power (White House, the Capitol Building (Congress), the Supreme Court, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument)
  • Canberra- is a sleepy town and thus is not as attractive to tourist, but Australia’s political capital, it is homme to the country’s top politicians, bureaucrats, and policy advisors.

  ---

  • New York - headquarters of the United Nations
  • Brussels - headquarters of the European Union
  • Jakarta - headquarters of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
  • Frankfurt - European Central Bank, which oversees the Euro
• centers of higher learning and culture

  • Boston- Harvard University- the world’s top university
  • Copenhagen- culinary capitals of the world, with its top restaurants incommensurate with its size.
  • Singapore- slowly becoming a cultural hub for the region.
• other side of global cities:

  • insufficient public transport system
  • heavy traffic
  • poverty
  • gentrification
• gentrification - phenomenon of driving out the poor in favor of newer, wealthier residents
• banlieue - in France, poor Muslim migrants are forced out of Paris and have clustered around ethnic enclaves