THE GLOBAL CITY

LESSON 8
GLOBALIZATION: DEFINITION
 The integration of the political, economic and,
cultural activities of geographically and/or
nationally separated people.
 Rapid movement toward international
economic integration; consensus on political
values, processes, and principles; and the
revolution in information and communication
technologies.
THE GLOBAL CITY:
INTRODUCTION
 If you had the chance, would you move to New
York? Tokyo? How about Sydney? Chances are
many of you would like to move to these major
cities. And if not, you would like to visit them
anyway. Some have already traveled to these
cities, heard stories about them, have relatives
who have lived there.

 Not all people have been to Global Cities, but

most know about them. Their influence extends
even to one’s imagination. What are these
places? Why are they important? And
how are they relevant to you?
WHY STUDY GLOBAL CITIES?
What this lesson will emphasize, however, is that
Globalization is Spatial. This statement means two things.

1. It occurs in physical
spaces; and
• E.g. You can see it when foreign
investments and capital move
through a city, and when
companies build skyscrapers.

2. What makes it move is the fact that it is

based in places.
• E.g. The main headquarters of Sony is in Tokyo, and from
there, the company coordinates the sale of its various
electronics goods to branches across the world.
 In the years to come, more and more people will
experience globalization through cities.
DEFINING THE GLOBAL CITY
 Sociologist Saskia Sassen popularized the term “global
city” in the 1990s. Her criteria for what constitutes a global
city were primarily economic. In her work, she initially
identified Three Global Cities.

THREE GLOBAL CITIES

(As per Saskia Sassen)

1 st New York
2 nd London
3 rd Tokyo
DEFINING THE GLOBAL CITY
 Others consider some cities “Global”
simply because they are great places to
live in.

E.g. In Australia, Sydney commands the

greatest proportion of capital. However,
Melbourne is described as Sydney’s rival
“Global City” because many magazines
and lists have referred to it as the world’s
“Most Livable City”.
DEFINING THE GLOBAL CITY
 Defining a global city can thus be
difficult. One way of solving this dillema
is to go beyond the simple dichotomy of
“Global and Non-Global”. Instead of
asking whether or not one city is a global
city, it is better to ask:

In what ways are cities global

and to what extent are they
global?
What are the multiple attributes

OF GLOBALITY
INDICATORS
of the “Global City”?

Powerful Economy

Center of Authority

Center of Political Influence

Center of High Learning and

Culture
Today, global cities become
culturally diverse
THE CHALLENGES OF
GLOBAL CITIES
 Global Cities conjure up images of
fast-paces, exciting, cosmopolitan
lifestyles. But such descriptions are
lacking.

 Inthis section, we list only two of

the “Pathologies” of the Global
City, based on the research of the
Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
PATHOLOGIES OF THE GLOBAL
CITY: POLLUTION
 Ecologists have found that by concentrating their
populations in smaller areas, cities and metros
decrease human encroachment on natural
habitats. Denser settlement patterns yield
energy savings; apartment buildings, for
example, are more efficient to heat and cool than
detached suburban houses.
 Not all cities, however, are not as dense as
others. Some cities like Los Angeles are urban
sprawls, with massive freeways that force
residents to spend money on cars and gas. While
cities like Manila, Bangkok, and Mumbai are
dense, their lack of public transportation and
their governments’ inability to regulate their car
industries have made them extremely polluted.
PATHOLOGIES OF THE GLOBAL
CITY: TERRORISM
 The major terror attacks of recent years have
also targeted cities. Cities, especially those with
global influence, are obvious targets for
terrorists due to their high populations and their
role as symbols of globalization that many
terrorist despise.
 Now that real estate magnate Donald Trump is
the President of the United States, security
experts believe that properties around the world
that carry his name may be targets of terror
attacks. There are Trump Towers, for example,
in places like Istanbul and Manila.
THE GLOBAL CITY AND THE
POOR
 We have consistently noted that Economic
Globalization has paved way for massive
inequality. This phenomenon is thus very
pronounced in cities.
 In places like Mumbai, Jakarta, and Manila, it is
common to find gleaming buildings alongside
massive shantytowns. This duality may even be
seen in rich, urban cities
 Gentrification is a phenomenon of driving out
the poor in favor of newer, wealthier residents.
 In France, poor Muslim migrants are forced out
of Paris and have clustered around ethnic
enclaves known as banlieue.
CONCLUSION
 Global cities, as noted in the lesson, are
sites and mediums of globalization. They
are, therefore, material representations of
the phenomenon. Through them, we see the
best of globalization.

 However, they remain sites of great

inequality, where global servants serve
global entrepreneurs. The question of how
globalization can be made more just is
partly a question of how people make their
cites more just.