Nature of world cities
- leaders in banking and finance
- centres of world trade and headquarters of NGOs and TNCs
- cultural hubs and hosts of entertainment / sporting spectacles
- hosts of tourism and universities
Definition of world city
a city that has importance to the operation of the global systems of finance, trade, politics, communications, aid, tourism and entertainment. They have become part of an international global system where they are the command and control centres in the borderless domain of the new economy, displaying economic and cultural authority. Examples of the major 4 world cities include London, New York, Tokyo and Paris.
Character of world cities
- world leading infrastructure (transport, sports stadiums, cultural facilities, container ports, high rise sky-scrapers)
- morphology and iconic green space
- increasing high rise inner city residential development, suburban sprawl, population and population density + diversity
- challenges - air pollution, traffic congestion, increasing cost of living, terrorism
Spatial distribution of world cities
- uneven distribution
- clusters around 3 regional zones (north america, western europe, asia pacific)
- predominately in the northern hemisphere
- located on waterways
- only one world city in Africa (Johannesburg)
Economic authority definition
world cities are the command and control centres for organising the global economy
Economic authority
Banking and finance: major stock markets, HQ of banks and APS
Trade: containerisation
HQ of TNCs
Cultural authority definition
the ability of world cities to generate, communicate and disseminate ideas and values.
Cultural authority
- sporting events
- fashion
- theatre
- art galleries and museums
- restaurants
- media
- universities
Operation of global networks about
World cities are nodes that operate to generate, transfer and disseminate people, goods, ideas, information, and finance
Facilitated through physical connections and immaterial connections
Operation of global networks
Transport: flights, railways Telecommunications network: fibre optic cables, media Trade / containerisation HQ of TNCs and APS Stock exchanges
Stock exchanges
- New York has the 2 largest: NYSE = $30T (40% of total global market) and NASDAQ = $12T
- Euronext (paris - central in europe) = $4.6T
- crash of the global economy in the GFC (2007-09)
Banking
- Zurich is a global centre of finance as it HQs most Swiss Banks
- London HQs HSBC bank (largest bank in Europe)
- Beijing HQs the biggest bank in the world - the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Trade / containerisatoin
- Port of Shanghai handled 37 million containers in 2016
- London on the river Thames - 50 million tonnes of cargo
HQ of TNCs
- TNCs account for 70% of all world trade, 50% of these are located in world cities, with 38 of the top 50 TNCs located in either New York, London or Tokyo
- Global 500: Beijing has the highest recorded number of HQs to companies on the Global 500 - 52.
Sporting events
- London hosting the Summer Olympics 3x
- madison square garden - hosts 320 events a year
- grand slams for tennis (Wimbledon)
Fashion
- paris has 80 shows a fashion week with > 5000 visitors
- Milan - 13 000 companies related to the fashion industry
Theatre
- West End Theatre (London) worth $1.1 billion
- Broadway (2018-2019 season) had 14.8 million visitors
Art galleries and museums
- paris has over 130 museums
- the Louvre is the most visited art gallery - with 10.2 million viewers in 2018
Restaurants
Tokyo has 11 x 3 star michelin restaurants
Media
BBC London reaches 468 million people a week
Universities
London has 15/500 top universities in the world
HQ of NGO
- Red Cross in Geneva
- the UN in New York
Global architects
Renzo Piano (the Shard, Centre Pompidou in Paris)
Green space
Hyde Park
Central Park
