World cities

• What is a world city?

  A city that acts as a major centre for finance, trade, business, politics, culture, science, information gathering/ diffusion, and mass media

  • Serves the whole world not just the country

  > London and New York
• What are the way to rank world cities?

  1. Globalisation and World Cities Research Network (GaWC)
  2. Global Cities Index (GCI)
• 1. GaWC

  • Most common way to measure
  • Services & economy ranked; accountancy, advertising, banking/ finance and law
  • 3 main levels (alpha, beta, gamma) and sub-ranks (++,+)

  Alpha ++:

  > London and NY

  Alpha +:

  > Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo

  
  

  However, was developed in UK so may be bias, some world cities are not megacities
• 2. GCI

  • 5 dimensions used in ranking; business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement (More variety than GaWC)
  • In a list format with NY first, London second and Paris third as well as Chicago in 8th but half of the Index team are from Chicago Council on Global Affairs so may be bias
• Distribution of world cities:

  The majority of megacities are LICS and NEES but the majority of world cities are HICS, they're not always largest in population
• Characteristics of world cities:

  • Have great influence on a global scale due to financial status and commercial power
  • 'Networks of learning' - clusters of unis and research bases > 'creative hub' > develop new products/ services
  • 'Cradles of innovation' - attract qualified talented people
  • High levels of 'synergy' in economies - 2+ companies benefit from being close to each other
  • 'weightless economy' - rise in electronic data transfer, 'informationalism'
  • Centres for arts, tourism and mass media e.g. TV
  • Political centres
  • Large numbers of TNCS
• EXAMPLE: London:

  • 40 HEIS (highly qualified educational institutions) e.g. unis, research centres
  • 4500 world class researchers
  • 750,000 jobs in finance/ business
  • Houses of Parliament
  • Over 30% of global currency exchange occur in London
  • HSBC, BBC headquarters
  • Theatres and museums and entertainment facilities