LESSON 8:

THE GLOBAL CITY

“ENGINES OF GLOBALIZATION”
Global Cities
Global cities…. Cities which play an important role in global finance and trade.

North M
America L F Asia
T P Europe
C
M M
LA NY B T
D S
Tropic of Cancer
MC HK
M
Africa
Equator S
South
America
Tropic of Capricorn
SP
S
Oceania
How many of these global cities
can you name?

GCSE Geography
Global Cities
Global cities…. Cities which play an important role in global finance and trade.

North Moscow
America London Frankfurt Asia
Europe
Chicago Toronto Paris
Madrid Milan
Los Angeles New York Beijing Tokyo
Dubai Shanghai
Tropic of Cancer
Mexico City Hong Kong
Mumbai
Africa
Equator Singapore
South
America
Tropic of Capricorn
Sao Paulo
Sydney
Oceania

GCSE Geography
Global Cities Singapore
Top 20 Global
Beijing: Shanghai:
cities
China China Frankfurt:
London:
• Population 5.4 million; UK Germany
Tokyo: Japan Paris: France
Dubai: United Arab Emirates New
• nd York
Amillion.
city state City: – the USA city is the
the country and the capital; onlycity
18
• Population • Population
21.1 million. 24.1 2 most Biggest
populated • •in
city
city
Madrid: in Population
Population Spain 8.5720,000.
million 5th largest
Mumbai: IndiaOnly 17% • Sao countries Paulo: are •million.
Brazil
smaller;
• Population 2.4 million.
the world; world measured •
ofbythe
Population
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population
population; 13.3
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The
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Germany;
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financial
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most densely
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most France;
capital
increased
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million;in size. •
populated Size
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city urbanin
12 the areaUSA;
million. Biggest city in Brazil and the
• One of Sydney: Mexico Toronto:
Australia City: Moscow:
transportation Canada
Mexico •Russia
centre; Milan:
Important
Moscow
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America
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Global Cities
Global cities…. Cities which play an important role in global finance and trade.

North Moscow
America London Frankfurt Asia
Europe
Chicago Toronto Paris
Madrid Milan
Los Angeles New York Beijing Tokyo
Dubai Shanghai
Tropic of Cancer
Mexico City Hong Kong
Mumbai
Africa
Equator Singapore
South
America
Tropic of Capricorn
Sao Paulo
Sydney
Oceania
Click here for examples of High Income Countries (HIC)
Click here for examples of Newly Industrialised Countries (NIC)
Click here for examples of Low Income Countries (LIC)

GCSE Geography
Global Cities
Global cities…. Cities which play an important role in global finance and trade.
Norway
Canada Iceland Sweden
Finland
USA
Canada
North
UK Moscow China
America London Frankfurt Asia
Chicago Toronto Rep. of Paris Europe Turkey
Afghanistan
USA New York Ireland
Madrid Milan
Austria; Belgium; Bangladesh
NepalBeijing Tokyo
Los Angeles Denmark; France; Shangha
Tropic of Cancer Burkina
Gambia
Mali Germany; Italy;
Dubai
i Philippines
Mexico City Haiti
Faso
Luxembourg; Mumbai
Hong Kong
Netherlands;
Africa
Ethiopia Cambodia
Equator
Mexico Niger Portugal; Spain; Vietnam
Uganda
Thailand
Kenya
India
Singapor
Switzerland; Rwanda
Tanzania
e
South Malaysia
Malawi
Tropic of Capricorn
America Brazil Indonesia
Sao Paulo South
Lesotho
Click on the LICs, Sydney

NICs or HICs Africa Oceania

High Income Countries (HIC)
for the name of the Newly Industrialised Countries (NIC)
Australia New
country Low Income Countries (LIC) Zealand
GCSE Geography
Overview
01 Why study Global Cities?

02 Defining Global Cities

03 Indicators for Globality

04 The Challenges of Global

Cities
05 The Global City and The
Poor
Why study Global Cities?
ZALDY CONOS & MACY ANNE LARGO
GLOBALIZATION IS SPATIAL
This statement mean two things.
 3%
lived in cities in 1800

LSE Cities / Urban Age project (https://lsecities.net/ua/)

 The Light of the World’s Cities
composite satellite image (NASA, 2000) showing density of urbanisation:
https://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=55167
The Light of the World in the 18th century
Satellite image of the earth at night c. 1800
 First, globalization is spatial because it occurs in physical spaces.
You can see it when foreign investments and capital move through a
city, and when companies build skyscrapers. People who are working
in these businesses – or Filipinos working abroad – start to purchase or
rent high – rise condominium units and better homes. As all these
events happen, more poor people are driven out city centers to make
way for the new development.
 Second, globalization is spatial because what makes it move is the fact that
it is based in places. Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood, is where movies
made for global consumption. The main headquarters of Sony is in Tokyo,
and from there, the company coordinates the sale of it’s various electronic
goods to branches across the world. In other words, cities act on globalization
and globalization acts on cities. They are the sites as well as the medium of
globalization. Just as the internet enables and shapes global forces, so do
too cities.

In the years of come, more and more people will experience globalization
through cities. In 1950, only 30 percent of the world lived in urban areas. By
2014, that number increased to 54 percent. And by 2050, it is expected to
reach 66 percent. This lessons studies globalization through the living
environment of a rapidly increasing number of people.
Defining Global Cities
SOFIA LYKA MERIOLES & XYERLA TORRALBA
The term “global city” was
popularized by

Sociologist Saskia Sassen in the 1990s

Saskia Sassen

is a Dutch-American sociologist
noted for her analyses of
globalization and international human
migration

What constitutes a global were

primarily economic
She identified three global cities:
1. New York who has the New York Stock
Exchange (NYSE)
= is considered the largest equities-based
exchange in the world, based on the total market
capitalization of its listed securities. 
2. London has the Financial Times
Stock Exchange (FTSE)
= also known by the nickname of “Footsi
e,” is an independent organization. which specialize
s in creating index offerings for the global financial
markets.
3. Tokyo has the Nikkei
= Nikkei Stock Average is a stock market
index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). It is a 
price-weighted index, operating in the Japanese Y
en
Global city are the hubs of
global finance and capitalism

The amount of money traded

in these markets is staggering
The value of shares traded in t
he NYSE is $19,300 billion
Philippine Stock Exchange is o
nly $231.3 billion
The New York Stock Exchange represents the highest concentration of capital in the world.
Though it is not as wealthy as New York, movie-making mecca Los An
geles can now rival the Big Apple’s cultural influence
San Francisco must now factor in as another global city because it is t
he home of the most powerful internet companies– Facebook, Twitte
r, and Google.
The growth of the Chinese economy has turned cities like Shanghai, B
eijing, and Guangzhou into centers of trade and finance.
The Chinese government reopened the Shanghai Stock Exchange in l
ate 1990 then it has grown to become the fifth largest stock market in t
he world.
Some cities “global” simply because they are great places to live in.
In Australia, Sydney commands the greatest proportion of capital
Melbourne is described as Sydney’s rival “global city” because many mag
azines and lists have now referred to it as the world’s “most livable city”
– a place with good public transportation, a thriving cultural scene, and a
relatively easy pace of life
In what ways are cities global an
d to what extent are they global?
Indicators for Globality
ARIANNE BATALLER, MORELLA SILVA & SAMBERT LESTINO
 1 ECONOMIC POWER

 New York may have the largest stock market in the

world but Tokyo houses the most number of
corporate headquarters. (613 company
headquarters as against 217 in New York, its closest
competitor)
 Shanghai may have a smaller stock market but
plays a critical role in the global economic supply
chain, since China has become the manufacturing
center of the world.
 Shanghai has the world’s busiest container port,
moving over 33 million container units in 2013.
 2 ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES

 1970s, top IT programmers and

engineers from Asia have moved to the
San Francisco Bay Area to become
some of the key figures in Silicon
Valley’s technology Boom.
 London remains a preferred
destination for many Filipinos with
nursing degrees.
 To measure the economic competitiveness of
a city, The Economist Intelligence Unit has added oth
er criteria like:
 Market size
 Purchasing power of citizens
 Size of the middle class
 Potential for growth
 3 CENTERS OF AUTHORITY

 Washington D.C may not be as

wealthy as New York but it is the
seat of American state power Major
landmarks - White House, the
Capitol Building (Congress), the
Supreme Courtthe Lincoin Memorial,
and the Washington Monument.
 Compared with Sydney and
Melbourne, Canberra is a sleepy
town and thus is not as
 4 CENTERS OF POLITICAL INFLUENCE

 The headquarters of the United Nations is in

New York and the European Union is in
Brussels.
 Philippines is Jakarta, also the location of the
main headquarters of the Association of
the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
 Powerful political hubs exert influence on their
own countries as well as on international
affair.
 European Central Bank, which oversees the
Euro (the European Union’s currency). Is based
in Frankfurt.
 5 CENTERS OF HIGHER LEARNING AND CULTURE

 Intellectual influence is seen through the influence

of its publishing industry.
 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.People read it not just across America, but also
all over the world.
 Many tourists visiting Boston is because they want
to see Harvard University – the world’s top
university.
 Asian teenagers are moving to cities in Australia
because of the leading English-language
universities.
 Education is currently Australia’s third largest
Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, so small the one can tour the entire c
ity by bicycle in thirty minutes.
Home of a major stock market, and its population is rather homogenous.
Now considered one of the culinary capitals of the world, with its top restau
rants incommensurate with its size.
Birthplace of “New Nordic” cuisine, like foraging the forest for local ingredie
nts.
Manchester, England in the 1980s was a dreary, industrial city.
Prominent post punk and New Wave bands-Joy Division, the Smiths, the Ha
ppy Mondays – hailed, making it a global household name.
In Southeast Asia, Singapore is slowly becoming a cultural hub for the regio
n.
Houses some of the region’s top television stations and news organizations
(MTV Southeast Asia and Channel News Asia).
Various art galleries and cinemas also show paintings from artists and filmm
akers, respectively, from the Philippines and Thailand.
Easier to watch the movie of a Filipino Indie filmmaker in Singapore than it i
s in Manila.
Cultural power of global cities
that ties them to the imagination
How many songs have been written about New York (Ja
y Z and Alicia Keys’s “Empire State of the Mind,” Frank Si
natra’s “New York, New York,” and numerous songs by Si
mon and Garfunkel) and conjure up images of place wh
ere anything is possible – “a concrete jungle where drea
ms are made of,” according to Alicia Keys.
Global cities become culturally di
verse
In a global city, one can try cuisines from differe
nt parts of the world.
Large Turkish populations, Berlin and Tokyo offe
r some of the best Turkish food one can find outsi
de of Turkey, dearth of foreign residents (despite
the massive domestic migration), but Singapore i
s, because it has a foreign population of 38%.
The Challenges of Global Cities
ELAINE ALTURO, JA GARCIA & JEAN ABAYA
Global cities conjure up images of fast-paced, exc
iting, cosmopolitan lifestyles and it also have their
undersides. They can be sites of great inequality a
nd poverty as well as tremendous violence.
Global cities create winners an
d losers
 Cities can be sustainable because of their density

According to Richard Florida notes :

 “Ecologists have found that by concentrating their

populations in smaller areas, cities and metros
decrease human encroachment on natural habitat.
Denser settlement patterns yield energy savings;
apartment buildings, for example, are more efficient
to heat and cool than detached suburbans houses.”
In cities with extensive public transportation syst
ems, people tend to drive less and thereby cut car
bon emissions. Because of the city’s extensive train
system, New Yorkers have the lowest per capita ca
rbon footprint in the United States.
In Asia, global cities like Singapore and Tokyo als
o have relatively low per capita carbon footprints.
Some cities like Los Angeles are urban, sprawls, with massive fr
eeway that force
resident to spend money on cars and gas.
Manila, Bangkok, and Mumbai are dense, their lack of public tr
ansportation and their governments’ inability to regulate their c
ar industries have made them extremely polluted.
Because of the sheer size of city populations across the world, u
rban areas consume most of the world’s energy. Cities only cov
er 2 percent of the world’s landmass, but they consume 78 perc
ent of global energy.
If carbon emissions must be cut to prevent global warming, this mass
ive energy consumption in cities must be curved. An action will require
a lot of creativity.
 For example, food products travel many miles before they get to maj
or centers.
Shipping this food through trains, buses, and even planes increases c
arbon emissions.
Solutions like so-called “vertical farms” built in abandoned buildings
(as is increasingly being done in New York) may lead the way towards
more environmentally sustainable cities. If more food can be grown wi
th less water in denser spaces, cities will begin to be greener.
The major terror attacks of recent years have also target cities. Especially those
with global influence, are obvious targets for terrorist due to their high populati
ons and their role as symbols of globalization that they may terrorist despise.
The same attributes that make them attractive to workers and migrants make
them sites of potential terrorist violence. We will be able to understand 9/11 att
acks that brought down the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New Yor
k.
The November 2015 coordinated attacks in Paris by zealots of the Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Real estate magnate Donald Trump is the presiden
t of the United State, carry his name may be targets of terror attacks.
There are Trump Towers, for example, in place like Istanbul an Manila.
 CHALLENGES
ENVIRONMENTAL
INEQUALITIES RESOURCES TECHNOLOGY THREATS GOVERNMENT
CHALLENGES
EXTREMELY DENSE
EXTREMELY POPULATED
EXTENSIVE PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION
TERRORISM
The Global City and The Poor
IVORY MONTECILLO & JEVLIN COSARE
 Economic Globalization has
paved the way for massive inequality.
Scandinavia, have found ways to mitigate inequal
ity through stateled social redistribution program
s.
In places like Mumbai, Jakarta,and Manila comm
on to find gleaming buildings alongside massive s
hanty townThis duality may even be seen in ric
h, urban cities.
 Outskirts of New York and San Francisco are poor urban e
nclaves occupied by African-Americans and immigrant familie
s who are often denied opportunities as a better life. Forced t
o move farther away from the economic centers of their cit
ies. As a city attracts more capital and richer residents, real
estate prices go up and poor residents are forced to relocate t
o far away but cheaper areas.This phenomenon of driving out
the poor in favor of newer, wealthier residents is called Ge
ntrification.
 Australian cities,poor aborginal australians have be
en most acutely affected by this process.Living in publ
ic urban housing,they were forced to move farther a
way from city centers that offer more jobs,more gove
rnment services,and better transportation due to grati
fication.
In France,poor Muslim migrants are forced out of P
aris and have clustered around ethnic enclaves known
as “Banlieue”
 The middle class is also thinning out. Globalization creates high incom
e jobs that are concentrated in global cities. High earners,in turn,generat
e for an unskilleld labor force (hotel cleaners,nannies,maids,waitress,etc.)
will attend to their increasing needs. Many middle income jobs in manufa
cturing and business process outsourcing (call centers,for example) are m
oving to other countries. Has heightened the inequality wihtin them.
Places like New York,there are high rolling American investment ban
kers whose children are raised by Filipino maids. A large global city may t
hus be a paradise for some, but a purgatory for others.
GLOBAL CITIES are sites and mediums of globalization
The material representation of the phenomenon
See the best of globalization
Create exciting fusions of culture and ideas, generate tremendous wealth
Sites of great inequality, global servants serve global entrepreneurs
How people make their cities more just.