JGI216H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Global City, Multinational Corporation, Cosmopolitanism
11 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Professor David Roberts Jan. 26, 2017
JGI216 LECTURE 4
GLOBALIZATION
KEY THEMES:
1) Features of the World City Theory
2) World City vs. World Class City
3) Alternative Options for World City-ness
4) Placing oneself on the map
THE MAKING OF THE WORLD-CLASS CITY
- What is the difference between a world class city and a world city?
- What criteria are used to determine the world city rankings? What does it focus on and
why? What does it exclude?
- What are the consequences of global city rankings and urbanization?
- IS TORONTO A WORLD-CLASS CITY?
THE WORLD CITY HYPOTHESIS
• Concerns the spatial organization of the new international divisions of labour
• Concerns the contradictory relations between production in the era of global management
and the political determination of territorial interests
• Helps to understand what happens in the major global cities of the world economy and
what much political conflict in these cities is about
WORLD CITIES
• A measurement of the function of the city within a global capitalist system
• Various criteria have been used to work to demonstrate the influence and control that
particular cities have in global and regional economies
• Hierarchical approach
• General consensus London, New York, Tokyo (less so beyond that)
THE STUDY OF WORLD CITIES – A BRIEF HISTORY
(4 KEY APPROACHES/FOUNDATIONS FOR THE STUDY OF WORLD CITIES)
1) Cosmopolitanism
- Peter Hall Focused on the locational preferences and roles of multinational
corporation (MNC) headquarters in the “developed world”
- Hymber examines some of the reasons why MNC are headquartered in
particular cities – access to capital, media, government, etc.
2) New International Division of Labour (Cohen, Friedmann, Wolff)
- Creation of a hierarchy
- Addition of a differentiation of cities between primary and secondary
3) Internationalization, Concentration, Intensity of Producer Services
- Sassen producer services = banking, accounting, advertising
- Focuses on a shift in importance of business services and finance in the global
economy – Globalization
4) World Class Cities as Financial Centres
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Key themes: features of the world city theory, world city vs. world class city, alternative options for world city-ness, placing oneself on the map. The study of world cities a brief history (4 key approaches/foundations for the study of world cities: cosmopolitanism. Peter hall focused on the locational preferences and roles of multinational corporation (mnc) headquarters in the developed world . Hymber examines some of the reasons why mnc are headquartered in particular cities access to capital, media, government, etc: new international division of labour (cohen, friedmann, wolff) Addition of a differentiation of cities between primary and secondary: internationalization, concentration, intensity of producer services. Sassen producer services = banking, accounting, advertising. Focuses on a shift in importance of business services and finance in the global economy globalization: world class cities as financial centres. Reed worked to define five hierarchical categories of financial centres ranging from supranational (ex. Other approaches to world cities: global media cities.
