City

:For alternate meanings see city (disambiguation)

Global cities

A global city, also known as a world city, is a prominent centre of trade, banking, finance, innovations, and markets. The term "global city", as opposed to megacity, was coined by Saskia Sassen in a seminal 1991 work. Whereas "megacity" refers to any city of enormous size, a global city is one of enormous power or influence. Global cities, according to Sassen, have more in common with each other than with other cities in their host nations. Bangkok, Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, London, Moscow, Mumbai, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto are commonly referred to as global cities, however, the term is also applied to other cities.

Related Topics:
World city - Trade - Bank - Finance - Market - Saskia Sassen - Bangkok - Beijing - Brussels - Chicago - Hong Kong - Johannesburg - London - Moscow - Mumbai - New York - Los Angeles - Paris - São Paulo - Seoul - Shanghai - Singapore - Sydney - Tokyo - Toronto

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The notion of global cities regards the power of cities as contained within cities. The city is seen as a container where skills and resources are concentrated. The more successful city is able to concentrate more of these skills and resources. This makes the city itself more powerful in terms that it can influence what is happening around the world. Following this view of cities, it is possible to rank the world's cities hierarchically (John Friedmann and Goetz Wolff, "World City Formation: An Agenda for Research and Action," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 6, no. 3 (1982): 319.).

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Critics of the notion point out to the different realms of power. The term global city narrowly focuses on economics. Cities like Rome are powerful in religious terms. Additionally, it has been questioned whether the city itself can be regarded as an actor.

Related Topics:
Rome - Religious

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In 1995 Kanter argued that successful cities can be identified by three elements. To be successful, a city needs to be good thinkers (concepts), good makers (competence) or good traders (connections). The interplay of these three elements, Kanter argued, means that good cities are not planned but managed.

Related Topics:
1995 - Connections

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