Global Networks Linked Cities

First published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In her pioneering book The Global City, Saskia Sassen argued that certain cities in the postindustrial world have become central nodes in the new service economy, strategic sites for the acceleration of capital and information flows as well as spaces of increasing socio-economic polarization. One effect has been that such cities have gained in importance and power relative to nation-states. In this new collection of essays, Sassen and a distinguished group of contributors expand on the author's earlier work in a number of important ways, focusing on two key issues. First, they look at how information flows have bound global cities together in networks, creating a global city web whose constituent cities become global through the networks they participate in. Second, they investigate emerging global cities in the developing world-Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Beirut, the Dubai-Iran corridor, and Buenos Aires. They show how these globalizing zones are not only replicating many features of the top tier of global cities, but are also generating new socio-economic patterns as well. These new patterns of development promise to lead to significant changes in the structure of the global economy, as more and more cities worldwide are integrated into globalization's circuitry. Includes contributions from:Linda Garcia, Patrice Riemens, Geert Lovink, Peter Taylor, David Smith, Michael Timberlake, Stephen Graham, Sueli Schiffer Ramos, Christoff Parnreiter, Felicity Gu, David Meyer, Pablo Ciccolella, Iliana Mignaqui, Eric Huybrechts, Ali Parsa. Also includes six maps.

With the advent of multinational corporations, the traditional urban service function has 'gone global'. In order to provide services to globalizing corporate clients, the offices of major financial and business service firms across the world have generated networks of work. It is the myriad of flows between office towers in different metropolitan centres that has produced a world city network. Taylor and Derudder's unique and illuminating book provides both an update and a substantial revision of the first edition that was published in 2004. It provides a comprehensive and systematic description and analysis of the world city network as the 'skeleton' upon which contemporary globalization has been built. Through an analysis of the intra-company flows of 175 leading global service firms across 526 cities in 2012, this book assesses cities in terms of their overall network connectivity, the regional configurations they form, and their changing position in the period 2000-12. Results are used to reflect on cities and city/state relations in the context of the global ecological and economic crisis. Written by two of the foremost authorities on the subject, this book provides a much-needed mapping of the connecting relationships between world cities, and will be a valuable resource for students of urban studies, geography, sociology and planning.

Scholars from multiple disciplines explore similarities, dissimilarities and the ways in which sea-based networking influences urban landscapes and architecture, socio-economic and cultural development from the 19th to the 21st centuries.

The Connected City explores how thinking about networks helps make sense of modern cities: what they are, how they work, and where they are headed. Cities and urban life can be examined as networks, and these urban networks can be examined at many different levels. The book focuses on three levels of urban networks: micro, meso, and macro. These levels build upon one another, and require distinctive analytical approaches that make it possible to consider different types of questions. At one extreme, micro-urban networks focus on the networks that exist within cities, like the social relationships among neighbors that generate a sense of community and belonging. At the opposite extreme, macro-urban networks focus on networks between cities, like the web of nonstop airline flights that make face-to-face business meetings possible. This book contains three major sections organized by the level of analysis and scale of network. Throughout these sections, when a new methodological concept is introduced, a separate ‘method note’ provides a brief and accessible introduction to the practical issues of using networks in research. What makes this book unique is that it synthesizes the insights and tools of the multiple scales of urban networks, and integrates the theory and method of network analysis.

Tackling the questions raised by twenty-first century urbanization, this handbook engages with contemporary debates and contributions to policy as well as looking at recent empirical and methodological shifts in the area

Recognizing the deep relations between politics, finance, cities and citizens, this book argues for a rejuvenated account of urban theory. The book emphasises the need to understand the importance of the 2008 global financial crisis and how the crisis affects cities nested in a variety of political economies. Situating urban theory in the current economic climate, it powerfully illuminates the dynamic between history, theory, and practice. Stressing how catastrophic social and economic calamities under the crisis lead to reorganised city structures, city life and city policies and hence new urban experience, it calls for theoretical perspectives that can speak to these challenging changes. This groundbreaking title is a must for anyone interested in urban life and its rapid movements. It will be especially useful for students and researchers in urban sociology, planning, geography, urban and regional development and urban studies

This study was the first systematically to cover those cities beyond the core that most clearly can be considered world cities: Bangkok, Cairo, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Mexico City, Moscow, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, and Singapore. Fourteen leading authorities from diverse backgrounds bring their expertise to bear on these cities across four continents and consider the major regional and global roles they play in economic, political, and cultural life. Conveying how these cities have followed various pathways to their present position, they offer multiple perspectives on the interplay of internal and external forces and demonstrate that any comprehensive discussion of world cities has to engage a multiplicity of perspectives. With an introduction by Josef Gugler and an afterword from Saskia Sassen, this substantial volume makes a major contribution to the world cities literature and provides an important impetus for further analysis.