# The definition of a world class city



## spxy (Apr 9, 2003)

Is this the true definition of a world class city.
No parking lots anwhere near the centre


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## SHiRO (Feb 7, 2003)

I don't see how the two are related and I think this premise is a little meager (sp?) to start a thread of.

We are trying to bring more quality to this forum, so how does this thread fit into that?


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## AcesHigh (Feb 20, 2003)

what if they are park buildings? Like... 10 floor tall park buildings???


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## MikeHunt (Nov 28, 2004)

In my opinion, a world class city is one that has pre-eminent cultural institutions, an enormous business community and is internationally oriented. I regard NY, Paris and London as the only three truly world class cities. 

Great cities like Barcelona, Vienna, Boston, Chicago, KL, BA, Sao Paulo, etc. seem to me to be far more inward looking than the foregoing 3 cities and that, among other things, differentiates NY, Paris and London from practically all others.


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## spxy (Apr 9, 2003)

SHiRO said:


> I don't see how the two are related and I think this premise is a little meager (sp?) to start a thread of.
> 
> We are trying to bring more quality to this forum, so how does this thread fit into that?


Sorry just joking. In fact it is a vailid point.Empty land near city centres is often full of parking lots.If land is taken up with car parks it shows the land is quite cheap with little demand for building on it.If a big city has lots of un-built empty spaces (often used as car parks) near the centre it indicates a lack of vibrancy and life.
I bet you would find that the cities people find the most vibrant and truly world class (London ,Paris, New York andToyko) have hardly any free space near there cores.
I've noticed from satellite pics that other big cities not quite in the top league (chicago, Los angeles) have quite a number of parking lots at their cores.


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## Dubai_Boy (May 21, 2003)

Ask some fat smelly bald dude in his 60's in europe and he will dictate exactly what defines a world class city


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## SHiRO (Feb 7, 2003)

What's that supposed to mean?


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## ssiguy2 (Feb 19, 2005)

^^^
Bizzarre. 
I think there are only 4 {maybe 5} true world class cities.......NYC, London, Paris, Tokyo, and MAYBE Moscow. 
Most others are major world cities...............L.A., Chicago, Toronto, Madrid. 
Why, because Tor/Chi/L.A. are all the, by far, most important cities in their countries culturally, population relative to their nations, and all are in G8 countries giving them international clout far beyond what their populations would warrant. 
Madrid because it is Europe's 3rd city. 
Not Berlin becuase, although the capitol is there, thats relativly new, is not the heart of German economy, and is not the nation's largest {RheinValley}. As the capitol continues to take form that is going to quickly change. If the major stock exchange and airport move from Frankfurt to Berlin then there will be no doutb that Berlin is in in a big way. 
After that, MexCity, SaoPaulo, Delhi OR Bombay, Shanghai, HongKong, Sydney. 
Not sure where to put Washington............maybe it could be right at the top depends on how importantly you place political power on the scale.


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## staff (Oct 23, 2004)

MikeHunt said:


> Great cities like Barcelona, Vienna, Boston, Chicago, KL, BA, Sao Paulo, etc. seem to me to be far more inward looking than the foregoing 3 cities and that, among other things, differentiates NY, Paris and London from practically all others.


KL? Since when is that city even close to earn "world status"? 

LA, Madrid, Berlin, Milan, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo, Bangkok, Shanghai, Hong Kong are all candidates though (after NYC, London and Paris).


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## SHiRO (Feb 7, 2003)

If only NY-London-Paris are world class, that's a very narrow definition.
It's all about scale in that case, cause there are other cities equally or more internationally orientated which als have big business and cultural institutions (Amsterdam for one).

I don't see how Moscow is more "world class" then a dozen of cities more deserving of the title.
Madrid isn't Europe's 3rd city either (depending on definition that would be either Paris, Milan or Istanbul)


IMO, there are at least a hundred cities deserving the title world class.
I'm not going to name them though...


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## MikeHunt (Nov 28, 2004)

staff said:


> KL? Since when is that city even close to earn "world status"?
> 
> LA, Madrid, Berlin, Milan, Rome, Moscow, Tokyo, Bangkok, Shanghai, Hong Kong are all candidates though (after NYC, London and Paris).



KL is not close to world status. It was an example. To me, NY, Paris and London are the only world-class cities.  I regard the next tier as quite large and, in my opinion, it includes all of the ones that you mention (except Bongkok) and others like BA, Rio, DC, SF, Vienna, etc.


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## Marathoner (Oct 1, 2005)

This is not a comprehensive creteria.
But I would say it is a common phenomena in the true world class cities:
The land or property price in their CBD are damned high. NYC, Tokyo & London for sure. Followed by HK, Paris, LA etc.


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

The gist of MikeHunt's and ssiguy2's comments are pretty good approximates.

I would consider Tokyo to be a world-class city if only because of its enormous economic clout.

China will be positioned to have world-class cities in the future if it continues to gain more and more political and economic prominence (widely expected). If HK is not already universally accepted into this category, then it or some other Chinese city will in the future.

Remember that a city need not be world-class in order to have global prominence is specific areas. Hence, the Italian Cities are globally prominent as far as art and architecture goes, etc...


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## *Sweetkisses* (Dec 26, 2004)

To the people who live in world class cities, do you wake up everyday and say " i live in a world class city!"?. Its funny I dont think most people pay attention to whether their city is world class or not.


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## HirakataShi (Feb 8, 2004)

World class Tier 1: Tokyo - NYC - London 
World class Tier 2: Paris - Hong Kong - Los Angeles 
What defines World Class? I'd define it as a city with a tremendous amount of cultural amenities (parks, restaurants, shopping, nightlife etc..) *and* a large impact on the global economy.


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## MikeHunt (Nov 28, 2004)

*[Quote: Sweetkisses] "To the people who live in world class cities, do you wake up everyday and say " i live in a world class city!"?. Its funny I dont think most people pay attention to whether their city is world class or not."*


> When I walk down the street of NY, Paris and London, I often think that they are leagues that are vastly ahead of any others. By contrast, when I walk through other cities that I love, whether DC, SF, Barcelona, Madrid, Vienna, HK, etc., I think that they're great but pale in comparison to the other three.
> 
> Growing up in an enormous city affects your impression of other cities. When I first starting traveling to other cities, I'd invariably think as my first impression: "This is it?" It's not disparaging to other cities. It's just a genuine reaction.


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## tpe (Aug 10, 2005)

*Sweetkisses* said:


> To the people who live in world class cities, do you wake up everyday and say " i live in a world class city!"?. Its funny I dont think most people pay attention to whether their city is world class or not.


Yes, a world-class city does not imply that that city is the best city in the world, as far as, for example, liveability, beauty, or lifestyle is concerned. For example, we can again take note that a lot of the Italian cities do not fall into this category. A lot of other examples abound. In the long run, it becomes a matter of individual preference.


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## Effer (Jun 9, 2005)

Check this out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_class_city


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## Siopao (Jun 22, 2005)

multiculturalism


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

Siopao said:


> multiculturalism


 New York ,London ,Paris 
Tokyo but the city are not a very multiculturalism.


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## SHiRO (Feb 7, 2003)

malek said:


>


that's better!


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## coth (Oct 16, 2003)

GLOBAL CITIES

Well rounded global cities

1. *Very large contribution*: London and New York. *Smaller contribution and with cultural bias*: Los Angeles, Paris and San Francisco
2. *Incipient global cities*: Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Toronto

Global niche cities - specialised global contributions

1. *Economic*: Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo
2. *Political and social*: Brussels, Geneva, and Washington

WORLD CITIES

Subnet articulator cities

1. *Cultural*: Berlin, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Munich, Oslo, Rome, Stockholm. *Political*: Bangkok, Beijing, Vienna
2. *Social*: Manila, Nairobi, Ottawa

Worldwide leading cities

1. *Primarily economic global contributions*: Frankfurt, Miami, Munich, Osaka, Singapore, Sydney, Zurich
2. *Primarily non-economic global contributions*: Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Atlanta, Basle, Barcelona, Cairo, Denver, Harare, Lyon, Manila, Mexico City, Mumbai, New Delhi, Shanghai


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## dhuwman (Oct 6, 2005)

malek said:


>


What is this based on?


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

malek said:


>


Did you make it yourself,lol???

Where is Chicago? Don't feel bad by putting all those little cities on the map! 

BTW, WTF is Rhur region and Seattle doing up there as world cities,lol! Stupid map! :bash:


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

coth said:


> GLOBAL CITIES
> 
> Well rounded global cities
> 
> ...


Most of them looks great, but I doubt that SF is lesser as a world city then Chicago tho! SF is mostly cultural bias and that shouldn't be influence in the world class stage cause it has to look more and beyond just the cultural!


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## malek (Nov 16, 2004)

ChicagoSkyline said:


> Did you make it yourself,lol???


absolutely not.

follow the map's link to see the full study.


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## SHiRO (Feb 7, 2003)

It looks very unprofessional with the misspelled and missplaced cities.

Also the omission of cities like Chicago, Amsterdam, Shanghai and the inclusion of Lyon, Seattle or Ruhr.


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

malek said:


> absolutely not.
> 
> follow the map's link to see the full study.


Sorry I doubt that I will follow a link to nowhere! Just answer, where is Chicago? If you can honest tell me that it shouldn't be on that unprofessional looking map of yours, just give up! :bash: :sleepy:


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## malek (Nov 16, 2004)

ChicagoSkyline said:


> Sorry I doubt that I will follow a link to nowhere! Just answer, where is Chicago? If you can honest tell me that it shouldn't be on that unprofessional looking map of yours, just give up! :bash: :sleepy:


dude chillax, i just posted this map, I don't condone it.


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## HelloMoto163 (Aug 13, 2005)

I think the map is from an amateur 

on the map : bunas aires : wrong!! 

its BuEnOs Aires


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## SHiRO (Feb 7, 2003)

That map comes from here.

http://hsc.csu.edu.au/geography/urban/cities/worldcities/World_Cities.html


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

HelloMoto163 said:


> I think the map is from an amateur
> 
> on the map : bunas aires : wrong!!
> 
> its BuEnOs Aires


Lol, isn't that an easy give away, no chicago to be found on that map, dah, that is a boner!


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## malek (Nov 16, 2004)

^^ how old are you ? 12?


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

SHiRO said:


> That map comes from here.
> 
> http://hsc.csu.edu.au/geography/urban/cities/worldcities/World_Cities.html


BTW, whoever posted this resource on the web sure have no clue where chicago is! Talk about lecturing us on world cities,lol! Such a joke with tons of mis-spelling, how can we even take it seriouly! :bash: :runaway:


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

Just reading here statement about her view of world cities:

"A world city is defined as a large city that has outstripped its national urban network. A world city has become part of an international global system. It is a centre of political power, world trade and communication, a leader in banking and finance. World cities attract world stage, entertainment and sporting spectacles and are the headquarters of non-government organisations as well as transnational corporations. World cities benefit from high levels of tourism. 
"

Making me really scratch my head, isn't it obvious that Chicago has all of em and closer then some of the mini me type of cities like seattle, rhur region, SF, Montreal...???

She needs more degree in geography and history of world! LOL


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## ChicagoSkyline (Feb 24, 2005)

malek said:


> ^^ how old are you ? 12?


^^^
How old are you 5?
To be obsessed by that unliable map as your conclusion is just childish! LOL! :bash: :sleepy:


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## SHiRO (Feb 7, 2003)

Ok, cut it out guys...


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## wickedestcity (Jul 23, 2004)

A global city (also known as a world city or world-class city) is a city which has a direct and tangible impact on global affairs through socioeconomic, cultural, and/or political means. In recent years, the term has become increasingly familiar, due to the rise of globalization (i.e. global finance, worldwide communications and travel). Though defining a global city must be partially subjective, these cities are generally seen as meeting most of the following criteria:

International familiarity (or 'first-name' familiarity – one would say "Tokyo", not "Tokyo, Japan"). 
Active influence and participation in international events and world affairs (for example, New York City is home to the United Nations headquarters, Brussels is home to the EU Parliament and NATO headquarters, Frankfurt is headquarters to the European Central Bank). 
A fairly large population (the center of a metropolitan area with a population of at least one million, typically several million). 
A major international airport (for example, London Heathrow Airport) that serves as an established hub for several international airlines. 
An advanced transportation system that includes several freeways and/or a large mass transit network offering multiple modes of transportation (subway, light rail, regional rail, ferry, or bus). 
In the West, several international cultures and communities (such as a Chinatown, a Little Italy, or other immigrant communities). In other parts of the world, such as Asia, cities which attract large foreign businesses, for example Shanghai and Hong Kong. 
International financial institutions, law firms, corporate headquarters (especially conglomerates), and stock exchanges that have influence over the world economy. 
Advanced communications infrastructure that modern trans-national corporations rely on, such as fiberoptics, Wi-Fi networks, cellular phone services, and other high-speed lines of communications. 
World-renowned cultural institutions, such as museums and universities. 
A lively cultural scene, including film festivals, premieres, a thriving music or theatre scene; an Orchestra, an opera company, art galleries, and street performers. 
Several powerful and influential media outlets with an international reach are based in world cities, such as the BBC, The New York Times, Le Monde, The Chicago Tribune, and The Times.

In the Western World, London, New York, Paris, and Tokyo have been traditionally considered the "big four" world cities – not incidentally, they also serve as symbols of global capitalism. However, many people have a personal list, and any two lists are likely to differ based on cultural background, values, and experience.

In certain developed countries, especially the United States, the rise of suburbia and the ongoing migration of manufacturing jobs to developing countries has led to significant urban decay. Therefore, to boost urban regeneration, tourism, and revenue, the goal of building a "world-class" city has recently become an obsession with the governments of some mid-size cities and their constituents.

The phenomenon of world-city building, albeit with slightly more success, has also been observed in Sydney, Buenos Aires, Frankfurt, and Toronto: each of these cities has emerged as large and influential.


Chicago 
Frankfurt 
Hong Kong 
Los Angeles 
Milan 
Singapore[edit]
GaWC Inventory of World Cities
An influential attempt to define and categorise world cities, and a useful starting point for discussion, was made by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network (GaWC) [1], based primarily at Loughborough University in England. The roster was outlined in the GaWC Research Bulletin 5 [2] and ranked cities based on their provision of "advanced producer services" such as accountancy, advertising, banking/finance and law. The Inventory identifies three levels of world city, termed Alpha, Beta and Gamma for their relative influence. Each level contains two or three sub-ranks. There is also a fourth level of cities that show potential to become world cities in the future.

The most influential cities in the world have been ranked into three classes; Alpha, Beta and Gamma. The cities are also divided into sub-rankings within their class, based on the points given to them in the GaWC study.

Note that this roster is weighted toward financial criteria and generally denotes Western and East Asian cities in which there are offices of certain multinational companies providing financial and consulting services rather than other cultural, political and economic centres elsewhere in the world.

Alpha World Cities

12 points: London, New York City, Paris, Tokyo 
10 points: Chicago, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Milan, Singapore 
Beta World Cities

9 points: San Francisco, Sydney, Toronto, Zurich 
8 points: Brussels, Madrid, Mexico City, Sao Paulo 
7 points: Moscow, Seoul 
Gamma world cities

6 points: Amsterdam, Boston, Caracas, Dallas, Dusseldorf, Geneva, Houston, Jakarta, Johannesburg, Melbourne, Osaka, Prague, Santiago, Taipei, Washington, DC 
5 points: Bangkok, Beijing, Montréal, Rome, Stockholm, Warsaw 
4 points: Atlanta, Barcelona, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Budapest, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Miami, Minneapolis, Munich, Shanghai 
As mentioned, there is also an unauthoritative fourth categorization of cities which are showing potential in attaining world status.

Evidence of World City Formation

3 points: Athens, Auckland, Dublin, Helsinki, Luxembourg, Lyon, Mumbai, New Delhi, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Tel Aviv, Vienna 
2 points: Abu Dhabi, Almaty, Birmingham (UK), Bogotá, Bratislava, Brisbane, Bucharest, Cairo, Cleveland, Cologne, Detroit, Dubai, Ho Chi Minh City, Kiev, Lima, Lisbon, Manchester, Montevideo, Oslo, Riyadh, Rotterdam, Seattle, Stuttgart, The Hague, Vancouver 
1 point: Adelaide, Antwerp, Arhus, Baltimore, Bangalore, Bologna, Brasilia, Calgary, Cape Town, Colombo, Columbus, Dresden, Edinburgh, Genoa, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Kansas City, Leeds, Lille, Marseille, Richmond, St. Petersburg, Tashkent, Tehran, Tijuana, Turin, Utrecht, Wellington 
There is a schematic map of the GaWC cities at their website, [3]. The GaWC is a somewhat subjective ranking, as is any other, but the top four listed cities at least match those commonly considered the major world cities.


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## MILIUX (Sep 13, 2002)

Posting it again...

Here is a draft essay i did a while ago for my uni assessment. I can't find my final polish but yeah, this is suffice. You'll get the juice of it. 

*What is a global city? What are its distinctive social, cultural and economic characteristics?*

In this modern spatial time of globalisation continuum, global cities have been increasingly becoming more significant in the playing field of the transnational economy. But what characterizes a city as a global city has become widely controversial because of no standardised hierarchy which is classified as a ‘world city’. To what extent heterogenous cities can be classified as a global city and how its spatial socio-economic moment influenced the transnational finance, trans-culture and sociology has been well discussed through the works of prominent minds such as Friedmann and Sassen. As the mechanism of globalisation has become more complex with larger space and shorter time, so does the influence of the global cities as these cities are recognised as a hub for ‘management and control’ of high finance and inter-national culture or doxa. Global cities have also been devoted in setting new cultural ideas such as architecture, city planning, multiculturalism, and the weakening of the ‘collective community’. It is why global cities plays are integral actors in determining the disseminating influence of globalisation.

Firstly, the nature of the epistemological debate concerned with the characteristics of the global city has been clearly defined due to it qualitative nature. However, there has been a theoretical recognition of what constitutes a rational form of the global city. All predominant global cities (New York, London & Tokyo), has a ‘financial, informational and immigration-ary flows’ where these hubs act as a ‘command and control’ function. John Friedman and Saskia Sassen have provided an analysis of what constitutes as a ‘transnational urbanism’ city. They argue that these cities have collective influence on due to the structuralism and economism which inter-connects with other major playing cities. The reason why New York, London and Tokyo are well regarded as a dominant hierarchical global cities are because of their attractiveness in accumulating capital especially from TNCs and other financially speculative players. Their historically founded recognition as a place of trade and manage are well regarded and reputable in the capitalist market. According to the ‘Globalisation & World Cities (GAWC) Research Bulletin’, cities can be set in hierarchical rank by dividing its distinctive activities in accounting, advertising, banking and laws. It has divided into three domains: alpha, beta and gamma in a order set by ‘worldly’ status.

What makes New York more (financially) important than Melbourne or Sydney is because of greater presence of TNCs positioning their headquarters in New York City, which means greater high-finance output. Sassen explains that the ‘concept of the global city has emerged because of the two interrelating factors: the globalisation of the economic activity and the organisational structure of the producer service & financial industry itself”. However, Friedmann is sceptical of the global city hierarchy of the ‘spatial articulations’ because of the cyclical nature of the global city. This means those global cities are affected by recessions, and mid-term economic downturn caused by poor management especially during the Asian Financial Crisis. He has addressed that global cities remains as ‘global’ because of the number of quantitative promises (i.e. money), and exchanges. In retrospect to his argument, it can also be seen through the existence of the ‘grey zone’ when determining beta and gamma cities. Even though Seoul is a mega city, the criteria is not set on the basis of the population, instead the number of TNCs and products they service.

As reinforced earlier, global cities are renowned to have command and control functional persuasion in the global market. The presence of globally oriented entities has anchored many cities in the position of economic influence and power, which no doubt has put pressure on the process of globalisation. What makes corporations a TNC is because of their portfolio, having many branches all over the world and to provide diverse products. For example, Microsoft has a headquarter near Seattle, while it has it’s regional branch in Sydney. By embracing the high modernity, ‘language of commerce and the commodity’ it allows cities to expand and compete ‘for position in the international division for labour, centre for consumption and for administrative power. What it means by administrative power is that it controls many manufacturing bases outside of the city as a means to gain economic profit. Many TNCs have their manufacturing centres in China while retaining their headquarters in a highly industrialised city. This means that these entities have a significant role in commanding the movement of direct foreign investment in between cities. Sassen explains that ‘economic globalization has ushered in a territorial dispersal of economic activity which, in turn, creates a need for expanded central control and management. Thus key structures of the world economy are necessarily situated in the global cities’. Global cities are ‘local’ hegemonies which discriminate other ‘sub-global’ players through corporation’s favourability.

Consequently, the process of modernity in which global cities participates has detrimental impact on social reproduction (i.e. inequality). Friedmann sees that consequences for the global city formations have polarized the distribution of peripheral economies. By centralising the management and control in one city, nation-state may face unequal development within regions which puts pressure on social citizens. This includes changing employment especially when rural-urban migration is dramatically increased, pressure on city infrastructure and greater disadvantages for those who cannot participate in the global city mechanism. He also explains the ‘fiscal crisis’ which deregulates the market forces with little government intervention, such as welfare, taxation and politics. This means there will be greater inequality in terms of income, which then bubbles the social upheaval - where ever more policing is needed.

Zane Miller’s study (1981) at Forest Park, Ohio has conducted the diminishing of the community state due to the neo-capital works of transnational urbanism. He divided the transformation of community’s urbanisation into three parts: metropolitan community, community of limited liability and community of advocacy. In the first period (1935-1952), Miller states that inhabitants would contribute to the ‘civil enterprises of the general welfare’. In the second period, he argues that the welfare system diminishes as individual’s perceptual obligations are limited. Finally, in the third period (1969 to present), capitalist competition sets community as nonexistent ‘as there are distrust and disbelief in the institution and established ways’. It stresses the psychological and well being is put above the government or the community as a whole. Communities can only co-exist with urbanism if there is a system of ‘interpersonal connections and where the actors are conscious of their involvement’. Hardt and Negri also regards the illusion of capitalist policies ‘have brought more extreme separation of small minority that controls enormous wealth from multitudes that live in poverty at the limits of powerlessness.’

Even if the fiscal policy is used, state governments prefers investing in infrastructure where it caters for the ‘transnational capital and urban amenities desired by the new professional elite strata at the expense of the social reproductive needs of urban migrant and immigrant labour’ , as stressed by Friedmann. Citizens and non-citizens who cannot participate in the competition within the global city will be discriminated largely due to the neo-liberal belief of economic rationalism.

In the global city, a multiculturalism project has advantages in the global cities in terms of socio-economic expressions. Sydney, which is located within the Asia-Pacific region, sees migration flows as beneficial due to the inter-national language connections it brings. Many expatriates see speaking bi-lingual languages as economically sound because it allows transnational transfer to take place within the global city. This means TNCs in Sydney can provide service products to foreign customers, which ultimately creates financial stimulus for the city. Habermas and Heidegger manifests the idea that through cultural diversity within the competing city, draws ‘cultural construction of economic spaces, the embedded-ness of economic action, the transnationalization of urban culture, the war of position for ‘respect’ among the putatively unitary ‘subaltern’ classes…’. By reinforcing a global city as a cosmopolitan hub, it creates spatial harmony for inhabitants and overall inter-national global governance.

The multiculturalism project is apparent in Los Angeles which saw the process of ethnic melting pot, views this as a ‘locational advantage’. Asian economies are integrating with Los Angeles ethnically and financially because of its eo-ethnic economic structures to create opportunities on both players. This has lead to the accumulation of transnational communities which stimulates entrepreneur-ism among the immigrants, bringing new skills and industries. Many global cities has taken part in transferring unitary ethnic group to multilingual due to its opportunities and inter-national partnership it creates in fostering economic convergences.

In extension to the multi-lingual ideology posed by ethnic co-operation, the expression of architecture has flourished due to its symbol it possesses. Harvey’s text “The Urban Experience” (1989) explains that ‘by 1972, modernist architecture was s stifling and torporous as a corporate power it represented’. The quantity of office space occupied has paralleled relations with fluctuating economic activity, notably the TNCs. As prime locations are becoming much more highly sought out, so did the TNCs in relocating their regional corporations to a particular global city. Manhattan saw the commercial property boom which constructed World Trade Centre and hundreds of skyscrapers. Many Western nations saw Hong Kong as a gateway to South East Asian market, which ultimately put pressure in building high rise properties to meet demand. Hong Kong has approximately 7400 skyscrapers while New York has approximately 5440 skyscrapers mainly clustered around the central business district. Corporate and urban living has made it possible because of the incentive for businesses and expatriates to love closer with smaller time and space providing a competitive framework in a global market.

This means that the process of globalisation articulated by global cities has changed cultural and social expressions which revolves around the concept of post-modernity. Changes in modern architecture and the transformation from local art to internationalised art has made ‘cities more attractive as consumer and cultural centres’. Such globally prominent architects include Norman Foster which built the London hall, Berlin National Parliament and 126 Philip St, Sydney which is the corporate location for Deutesche Bank. Major global cities such as London, Tokyo and New York displays architecture as an advertisement for grandeur and sophistication which is highly regarded in commercial movements. Therefore, architecture as an expression of commercial interest and finance is one of the characteristic of cultural impacts global cities impacts on.

Global cities, which are seen as a command and management centre for global trade and transfer has a significant role in the process of globalisation largely due to locations of TNCs in which they conduct their businesses. In a realist view, global cities does have a positive influence in individuals as it allows greater integration on cultural expressions and ethicality. However, global cities imposes economic rationalist ideas which doesn’t cater for the disadvantages such as minorities and without political-economic power. This mean global cities are mainly beneficial especially expatriates and corporate elites because of their monetary purchasing power to consume and manage the control of TNCs interests. Communities will be diminished and deregulated as individuals envision taking part in the global economy. Nonetheless, global cities does provide a framework where acts of modernity can be taken as an advantage when new forms of culture and architecture are taken into account.

If you need footnotes and bibs, then ask.


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## Minato ku (Aug 9, 2005)

*For My*
Economy
NY Tokyo London Paris Hong Kong

Finance
NY London Tokyo Frankfurt Paris Hong Kong

multiculturalism
NY London Paris 

Culture
NY London Paris Tokyo

Modernity
Tokyo Hong Kong NY London Paris Frankfurt

World class city
NY Tokyo London Paris Hong Kong


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