L2 - Cities in a World Economy

Question 1

What is the World City hypothesis? (Friedmann 1986)

Answer 1

Key cities in the world are used by global capital as ‘basing points’ in the spatial articulation/organisation of production/markets - thus, able to be arranged in spatial hierarchies

‘value-chains’ which integrate the world economy (can also be geo-cultural & political)

Question 2

‘The Global City’ (Friedmann 1986)

Answer 2

London, NYC & Tokyo all share parallels in development since 1980s

1. integration/role in global economy
2. new growth dynamics
3. primacy in national economies
4. financial/producer services
5. global connectivity infrastructure
6. rising inequality/migrant labour

Question 3

Producer services =

Answer 3

services covering financial, logistics, accountancy, consulting, also known as ‘knowledge intensive business services’

1. globally connected central marketplace
2. connections to similar firms
3. magnetic places in culture

Question 4

World City Network Calculator?

Answer 4

inter-city relations can be assessed based on the shared presence of an APS firm:

Service value Vij (standardised measurement of the importance of an office of firm J in city i)

Value 0:none 1:local partner 2:typical office 3:multiple, national 4:regional 5:global