Mega And World Cities Flashcards
What does mega cities offer in terms of services?
They offer opportunities to expand access to
services, such as healthcare and education, for large numbers of people in an economically efficient manner.
What does mega cities offer in terms of employment opportunities?
Urban dwellers have access to larger and more diversified employment markets.
What does mega cities offer in terms of political opportunities?
Megacities are centres of innovation where many solutions to global problems are being trialled.
Define world cities
These are cities which have great influence on a global scale, because of their financial status and worldwide commercial power. These cities house the headquarters of many transnational corporations (TNCs), are centres of world finance and provide international consumer services.
What is Alpha, Beta and Gamma ranking of cities is based on?
On the connectivity of cities through four ‘advanced producer services’: accountancy, advertising, banking/finance and law. New indicators were added in 2004 but economic factors are still deemed more important than political and cultural indicators.
Outline characteristics of a world city:
- A variety of international financial services including insurance, real estate, banking, accountancy and marketing
- Headquarters of multinational corporations
- The existence of financial headquarters, a stock exchange and major financial institutions
- Centres of new ideas and innovation in business, economics, culture and politics
- Considerable decision-making power at a global level
- High-quality educational institutions, including renowned universities, international student attendance and research facilities
Outline characteristics of Alpha ++ cities and examples
More integrated than all other cities and constitute their own high level of integration = London and New York
Outline characteristics of Alpha+ cities and examples
Other highly integrated cities that complement London and New York, largely filling in advanced service needs for the Pacific Asia = Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, Beijing, Sydney, Dubai
Outline characteristics of Alpha and alpha- cities and their exmples
Very important world cities that link major economic regions and states into the world economy = Chicago, Milan, Mumbai, Moscow, São Paulo, Frankfurt, Toronto, LA, Madrid and more
Outline characteristics of Beta level cities and examples
These are important world cities that
are instrumental in linking their region or state into the world economy = Bangalore, Copenhagen, Guangzhou, Zagreb, Oslo, Cairo and more
Outline characteristics of Gamma level cities and their examples
These can be world cities linking smaller regions or states into the world economy, or important world cities whose major global capacity is not in advanced producer services = Lahore, St Petersburg, Durban, Islamabad, Bristol and more
