Global city

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“World city” redirects here. For a city spanning an entire planet, see Ecumenopolis

A global city, also known as a world city or world-class city, is a city that has a direct and tangible effect on global affairs through socioeconomic, cultural, and/or political means. In recent years, the term has become increasingly familiar, because of the rise of globalization (i.e., global finance, communications, and travel). The term "global city", as opposed to megacity, was first coined by Saskia Sassen in a seminal 1991 work.

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General characteristics

Though defining a global city must be partially subjective, these cities are generally seen as sharing the following characteristics:

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In the Western view, 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. More recent views often add major Asian cities like Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Beijing, which today look much like New York. However, many people have their own personal lists, and any two lists are likely to differ based on cultural background, values, and experience.

In certain developed countries, 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 Buenos Aires, Frankfurt, Sydney, Mexico City and Toronto: each of these cities has emerged as large and influential.

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GaWC Inventory of World Cities

An attempt to define and categorise world cities was made in 1999 by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC), based primarily at Loughborough University in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. The roster was outlined in the GaWC Research Bulletin 5 [1] and ranked cities based on provision of "advanced producer services" such as accountancy, advertising, finance and law, by international corporations. The GaWC inventory identifies three levels of world cities and several sub-ranks. Note that this roster generally denotes cities in which there are offices of certain multinational companies providing financial and consulting services rather than other cultural, political, and economic centres. There is a schematic map GaWC cities at their website, [2].

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Alpha world cities

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Beta world cities

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Gamma world cities

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Evidence of world city formation

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Strong evidence

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Some evidence

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Minimal evidence

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Global Cities Conference 2006

This conference [3] will take place at Liverpool Hope University, starting on 29 June 2006 and chaired by Dr. Lawrence Phillips of the Global Cities Conference at the university. Its aim is to establish what is meant by a 'global city', by examining criteria such as images, narratives, economics, planning and people's experiences. It will also look at whether the perceived 'big four' - London, Paris, New York, and Tokyo - are in fact the only candidates for global city status, or if they should in fact be joined by fast-growing cities in Asia or the developing world.

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Other criteria

The GaWC list is based on specific criteria and, thus, may not include other cities of global significance or elsewhere on the spectrum. For example, cities with the following:

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Table of the cities of the world

For selected criteria




Rank Population of city (proper) Population of metropolitan area Percentage foreign born [4] Cost of living [5] Metro systems by annual passenger ridership Airports by annual passenger traffic Number of skyscrapers [6] Number of billionaires [7]
1 Shanghai Tokyo Miami Tokyo Moscow Atlanta Hong Kong London
2 Mumbai Mexico City Toronto Osaka Tokyo Chicago New York City New York City
3 Karachi New York City Los Angeles London Paris London Singapore Moscow
4 Buenos Aires Mumbai Vancouver Moscow Seoul Tokyo São Paulo Geneva
5 Delhi São Paulo New York City Seoul Mexico City Los Angeles Seoul Los Angeles
6 Manila Delhi Singapore Geneva New York City Dallas Tokyo Hong Kong
7 Moscow Kolkata Sydney Zürich Osaka Paris Istanbul San Francisco
8 Seoul Buenos Aires Abidjan Copenhagen London Frankfurt Rio de Janeiro Paris
9 São Paulo Jakarta London Hong Kong Hong Kong Philadelphia Toronto Tokyo
10 Istanbul Shanghai Paris Oslo St.Petersburg Las Vegas Buenos Aires Chicago
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See also

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External links

de:Weltstadt es:Ciudad de clase mundial fr:Ville mondiale he:עיר עולם nl:Wereldstad pt:Cidade global fi:Globaali kaupunki

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