Chapter 8: Global City

Introduction:

“Medium and small cities, those which nobody knows about, are
going to grow faster in the future. Our century is about global
cities.”
- The Mayor of Istabul

First and foremost, it is warranted that a definition of a Global City be

advanced. A Global city, also known by other terminologies as “alpha
city” or “word center” is a city regarded as a primary node in the global
economic network (Alderson and Beckfield, 2004)

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this topic, learners should be able to:

1. Gain a fuller and a more solid understanding about the concept of a

Global City and other ideas associated with it;
2. Be able to analyze the importance and significance of the Global City
in the realm of economic, political and socio-cultural dimensions of
the contemporary global setting; and
3. Be able to correlate the Concept of a Global City within the greater
construct of Globalization.

Discussion:

THE GLOBAL CITY

Definition of Global City according to different people
According to Sassen (1994), a global city serves as an important focal
point for business, global trade, finance, tourism and globalization to
exist.

According to Brenner (1998), a global city pertains to an urban centre

that enjoys significant competitive advantages and that serves as a
hub within a globalized economic system.

According to Smith (2003), it emanates from the idea that

globalization is created, facilitated & enacted in strategic geographic

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 locales (cities) according to a hierarchy of importance to the operation
of global system of finance and trade.

According to Alderson & Beckfield (2004), a Global City, also known

by other terminologies as “alpha city” or “world center” is a city
regarded as a primary node in the global economic network.

The Big Six

Global cities are highly globalized and competitive metropolitan

economies with the deepest and most settled concentrations of firms,
capital and talent. Six cities stand out. The “Big Six” include the
traditional ‘super cities’ of London, New York, Paris and Tokyo but
more recently this quartet has been joined by Hong Kong and
Singapore. They have significant competitive advantages, but
nonetheless are vulnerable to other dynamic gateway cities that are
well positioned to capture spill-over demand, notably Seoul, Toronto
and Sydney and, over the longer term, Shanghai.

New World Order of Cities

Saskia Sassen is the leading urban theorist of the global world. Her
work, The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo (1991) has shaped
the concepts and methods that other theorists have used to analyze
the role of cities and their networks in the contemporary world.

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 Essential Traits of a Global City

1. A variety of international financial services, notably in finance,

insurance, real estate, banking, accountancy, and marketing.

- Financial institutions are indispensable for global cities in as

much as trade, commerce and finance is almost second
nature to these cities. We have to bear in mind that these
cities are important hubs of global trade and economy and
this explains the reason why banking and financial service
providers are all the more important to sustain the demand
for exchange and financial mobility (Knox & Taylor, 1995).

2. Headquarters of several multinational corporations.

- Global cities are preferred locations for multinational

corporation (MNC) investment because they host advanced
producer services (such as marketing, accounting and
finance), their cosmopolitan environments, and their
interconnectedness to the international marketplace. Yet, like
MNCs, global cities are not a homogenous group and
individual firms make unique choices to locate their
operations in idiosyncratic global cities. (Belderbos et.al, n.d).
the idea that Global cities serves the trade and financial
interests as well as image of an MNC makes it a unique
destination, a preferred locale of choice for some of the world’s
most established MNC’s.

3. The existence of financial headquarters, a stock exchange, and

major financial institutions

- At the heart of global cities are financial transactions that

beat at every turn. The proximity and accessibility of banking,
stock exchange and other financial institutions are a key
element in the growth and proliferation of global cities.

4. Domination of the trade and economy of a large surrounding area.

- Global cities are dominant business and commercial hubs

where capital and investment flow operate at a massive scale.
Just as ancient cities have become important economic
centers of antiquity, global cities are the necessary trading

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 and commercial hubs of the Information age. With high levels
of information exchange, these cities are often located in
countries with some of the most stable governments fund
seed accelerators or have grants that attract the attention of
multinational companies seeking to tap into and grow the
ecosystem. Tel Aviv, for example, has one of the highest start-
up densities in the world with a strong entrepreneurial spirit
and 300 multinational R&D centers. Berlin, too, is a growing
regional hub, welcoming start-ups from London and Paris
that seek the city’s lower costs, openness to other
nationalities, and legacy of creativity. Finally, Bangalore has
become a center for young tech workers in India, with
entrepreneurial success stories in diverse industries from e-
commerce to healthcare (Taylor, et.al, 2011).

5. Major manufacturing centres with port and container facilities.

- Most global cities like Hongkong possesses massive port and

container infrastructures to facilitate further international
commerce and trade.

6. Considerable decision-making power on a daily basis and at a

global level.

- Global cities possess the capacity to create an immediate

impact with its decisions, actions and policy directions. This
is because of their importance in the global economic field
that their respective decisions whether political, economic or
even socio-cultural possess a relatively huge global appeal.

7. Centres of new ideas and innovation in business, economics,

culture, and politics

- Smith (2003) opined that the trailblazing and pioneering spirit

of Global cities will always be present due to the
conglomeration of people present as well as the architecture
for the development that is firmly established including
numerous research and development facilities.

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8. Centres of media and communications for global networks.

- Chalaby (2005) suggests that media conglomerates have

adopted new organizational structures, within which
headquarters grant affiliates increased autonomy, strengthen
their specialization, and connect them into an interdependent
corporate network. Such a strategy aims to achieve global
reach and efficiency while ensuring responsiveness to the
requirements of local markets. Castells (2009), similarly
argues that “only global networks can mater the resources
required in global media production, but their ability to
conquer market shares depends on the adaptation of their
content to the state of local audiences.”

9. Dominance of the national region with great international

significance.

- The dominance of the global city over the national region is

very much evident nowadays, demographics have played a
role. A century ago, roughly 10% of the world’s population
lived in cities. Now, at a minimum, more than 50% of the
world’s population is urbanized, a number that is expected to
grow to more than 60% by 2030. In addition, structural shifts
in the global economy, changes in the nature of international
challenges and improved intercity organizational techniques
have all combined to elevate cities on the global stage (Klaus,
2017). This explains the reason why when one talks about a
country, say Japan, one could easily associate it with a major
city like Tokyo, or when a person goes to US, New York is a
top of the mind destination. Indeed, Economic, technological
and networking changes wrought by globalization have made
cities the center of our nation states in almost all aspects.

10. High percentage of residents employed in the services sector and

information sector.

- The presence of technologically driven business also

necessitates that employment patterns in most global cities be
directed towards a manpower capital pool that is also
information oriented. This explains why the demand for
business and IT related graduated is relatively large especially
for most global cities. In addition, the attractiveness to most

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 tourists of global cities also requires services requirements
especially in Tourism and Hotel Industries (Robinson, 2006).

11. High-quality educational institutions, including renowned

universities, international student attendance, and research
facilities.

- Global cities are destination of choice especially for highes

learning and more engaged scholarship. Global cities possess
very commendable literacy rates and is usually the locale of
highly renowned universities. Paris, Hong Kong, Singapore
and Tokyo all have very strong subjects such as Math and
Science. London and New York’s model relies somewhat more
on external talent, and consequently they have a higher share
of foreign born citizens than their peers (36%+). The
instruction and research backbones of these institutions are
indeed very strong which also paves the way for academe –
industry linkages thus furthering the growth and mobility of
most global cities. Strongest in the human capital dimension,
these cities have a dominant business sector that often
develops as a result of robust university systems that
produce technically trained professionals in that particular
industry. Boston, for example, has a longstanding focus on
biotech and some of the country’s – and the world’s – best
universities. Montreal’s emerging start-up ecosystem, largely
developing from the robotics program at the Universite de
Montreal, specializes in artificial intelligence. And Moscow’s
universities produce highly trained technical engineers who
are prepared to work on IT solutions such as big data and
cloud technology, (Kearney, 2017).

12. Multifunctional infrastructure offering some of the best legal,

medical, and entertainment facilities in the country.

- The growth and development in most Global cities also enable

these locales to be important destinations of some of the most
prestigious legal and medical services to be established. The
medical advancements especially in medical research are
housed in some of the most sophisticated medical research
hubs found in these global cities. In addition, the
infrastructures, ease and effective transportation have also

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 made these global cities as entertainment and tourism
capitals.

13. High diversity in language, culture, religion, and ideologies.

- The cultural dynamics of global cities can be partly seen in

the presence of Urban spaces. The culture of cities manifests
itself in the materiality of streets, buildings, or signs. Urban
space is also the site of multiple rites and practices that range
from spirituality and artistic performances to daily life. The
fluidity of global cities allows their inhabitants to engage in
creative processes of cultural experimentation, performing a
continuous back-and-forth movement between hybridization
and pluralization. The former creates enough homogeneity for
the expatriates to feel targeted; the latter ensures a level of
cultural diversity necessary to satisfy their cosmopolitan
aspirations (Klaus, 2017).

GaWC Study

Jon Beaverstock, Richard G. Smith and Peter J. Taylor

established the Globalization and World Cities Research Network
(GaWC). A roster of world cities in the GaWC Research Bulletin 5 is
ranked by their connectivity through four "advanced producer
services": accountancy, advertising, banking/finance, and law. It is
based in the geography department of Loughborough University in
Leicestershire, United Kingdom. The GaWC inventory identifies three
levels of global cities and several sub-ranks, although the authors
caution that “concern for city rankings operates against the spirit of
the GaWC project.”

The 2004 rankings added several new indicators while

continuing to rank city economics more heavily than political or
cultural factors. The 2008 roster, similar to the 1998 version, is sorted
into categories of Alpha world cities (with four sub-categories), Beta
world cities (three sub-categories), Gamma world cities (three sub-
categories) and additional cities with High sufficiency or Sufficiency
presence.

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 2018 CITY CLASSIFICATION

1. Alpha - Alpha level cities are linked to major economic states

and regions into the world economy, and are classified into four
sections, Alpha ++, Alpha +, Alpha, and Alpha − cities.

2. Beta - Beta level cities are cities that link moderate economic
regions to the world economy and are classified in three sections,
Beta +, Beta, and Beta − cities.

3. Gamma - Gamma level cities are cities that link smaller

economic regions into the world economy, and are classified into
three sections, Gamma +, Gamma, and Gamma − cities:

4. Sufficiency - Sufficiency level cities are cities that have a

sufficient degree of services so as not to be overly dependent on
world cities. This is sorted into High Sufficiency cities and
Sufficiency cities.

ALPHA

1. Alpha ++ cities are cities most integrated with the global

economy:
London and New York

2. Alpha + cities are highly integrated cities, filling advanced

service needs:
Beijing, Dubai, Hongkong, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore,
Sydney, Tokyo

3. Alpha
Bangkok, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Frankfurt,
Guangzhou, Istanbul, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Los
Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Miami, Milan,
Moscow, Mumbai, São Paulo, Seoul, Taipei, Toronto,
Warsaw, Zürich

4. Alpha
Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bogotá, Budapest, Dublin,
Houston, Johannesburg, Lisbon, Luxembourg City, Manila,
Montreal, Munich, New Delhi, Prague, Riyadh, Rome, San

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 Francisco, Santiago, Shenzhen, Stockholm, Vienna,
Washington, D.C.

BETA

1. Beta +
Athens, Atlanta, Auckland, Bangalore, Boston, Bucharest,
Cairo, Chengdu, Copenhagen, Dallas, Doha, Düsseldorf,
Hamburg, Hangzhou, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Lima,
Perth, Tel Aviv, Vancouver

2. Beta
Abu Dhabi, Beirut, Berlin, Brisbane, Calgary, Cape Town,
Caracas, Casablanca, Chennai, Denver, Karachi, Kiev,
Kuwait City, Lagos, Manama, Minneapolis, Montevideo,
Nairobi, Nanjing, Oslo, Philadelphia, Rio de Janeiro, Sofia,
Tianjin, Wuhan, Zagreb

3. Beta
Almaty, Antwerp, Belgrade, Birmingham, Bratislava,
Changsha, Chongqing, Dalian, Dhaka, Edinburgh, Geneva,
George Town, Helsinki, Jeddah, Jinan, Kampala, Lyon,
Manchester, Monterrey, Nicosia, Panama City, Port Louis,
Qingdao, Quito, San José, San Juan, San Salvador,
Seattle, Shenyang, Stuttgart. Suzhou, Tunis, Valencia,
Xiamen

GAMMA

1. Gamma +
Accra, Adelaide, Cleveland, Colombo, Dar es Salaam,
Detroit, Glasgow, Guatemala City, Guayaquil, Harare,
Hyderabad, Lahore, Muscat, Osaka, Pune, Riga,
Rotterdam, Xi'an, Zhengzhou

2. Gamma
Ahmedabad, Algiers, Amman, Ankara, Asunción, Austin,
Baku, Baltimore, Belfast, Bilbao, Bristol, Charlotte,
Guadalajara, Hefei, Islamabad, Kolkata, Kunming, La Paz,
Ljubljana, Luanda, Lusaka, Phoenix, Porto, Saint

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 Petersburg, San Diego, San Jose, Santo Domingo, St.
Louis, Taiyuan, Tallinn, Tampa, Tbilisi, Tegucigalpa, Turin,
Vilnius, Wellington

3. Gamma
Belo Horizonte, Cologne, Curitiba, Durban, Fuzhou, Johor
Bahru, Maputo, Medellín, Milwaukee, Minsk, Nantes,
Nashville, Orlando, Ottawa, Penang, Phnom Penh, Poznań,
Sacramento, San Antonio, Tirana, Wrocław, Yangon

SUFFICIENCY

1. High Sufficiency
Abidjan, Abuja, Dakar, Douala, Edmonton, Florence,
Gaborone, Hartford, İzmir, Kansas City, Kaohsiung,
Labuan, Las Vegas, Lausanne, Leeds, Managua, Nassau,
Ningbo, Porto Alegre, Querétaro, Raleigh, Skopje,
Southampton, Surabaya

2. Sufficiency
Aarhus, Aberdeen, Aguascalientes, Alexandria*,
Antananarivo, Baghdad*, Bandar Seri Begawan*,
Barranquilla*, Basel, Bergen, Birmingham, Blantyre,
Bologna, Bordeaux, Brasília, Bremen, Buffalo*, Bursa,
Cali, Campinas, Canberra, Cardiff, Cebu City, Changchun,
Chișinău, Christchurch, Cincinnati, Ciudad Juárez,
Columbus, Córdoba, Dammam, Des Moines, Dortmund,
Dresden, Dushanbe*, Fukuoka, Genoa, Goiânia,
Gothenburg, Graz, Grenoble, Guiyang*, The Hague,
Haikou*, Halifax, Hamilton, Hanover, Harbin, Hohhot*,
Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Jerusalem, Kabul,
Kathmandu*, Katowice, Kazan*, Kigali, Kingston,
Kinshasa*, Kochi, Kraków, Lanzhou*, Leicester, Leipzig,
León, Libreville, Liège, Lille, Limassol, Linz, Liverpool, Łódź,
Louisville, Macau, Madison, Málaga, Malmö, Marseille,
Memphis, Mérida, Mexicali, Montpellier, Nagoya,
Nanchang*, Nanning, Nantong*, Naples, New Orleans,
Newcastle upon Tyne, Nice, Nottingham*, Novosibirsk*,
Nuremberg, Nur-Sultan*, Oklahoma City, Palo Alto,
Pittsburgh, Podgorica, Port Elizabeth, Port Harcourt*, Port
of Spain, Portland, Pretoria, Puebla, Quebec City, Recife,

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 Reykjavík, Richmond, Rochester*, Rosario, Salt Lake City,
San Luis Potosí*, San Pedro Sula, Sanaʽa, Santa Cruz de la
Sierra, Sarajevo, Seville, Shijiazhuang*, Strasbourg,
Taichung, Tashkent, Tijuana, Toulouse, Trieste*, Tulsa,
Ulaanbaatar, Ürümqi, Utrecht, Valencia, Valparaíso,
Vientiane*, Weifang*, Windhoek, Winnipeg, Wuxi*, Xining*,
Yerevan, Zhuhai*

THE GLOBAL CITY INDEX

The GCI analyzes 128 Cities in Six World Regions. The Global
Cities Index examines the current performance of cities based on 27
metrics spanning five dimensions: business activity, human capital,
information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement.
The Index provides insights into the global reach, performance, and
level of development of the world’s largest cities. It also allows for the
comparison of diverse cities and the identification of core strengths
and distinctive differences.

The Global Cities Outlook evaluates a city’s potential based on

the rate of change for 13 metrics across four dimensions: personal
well-being, economics, innovation and governance. These metrics help
evaluate long-term investment and success b assessing elements such
as environmental performance, infrastructure, and innovation
capacity. The Outlook brings a forward-looking perspective to city-level
policies and practices that shape future competitiveness, identifying
growing cities that are likely to become the world’s most prominent
cities.

SEVEN FUNDAMENTAL “GLOBAL CITY” HYPOTHESES

1. The geographic dispersal of economic activities that marks

globalization, along with the simultaneous integration of such
geographically dispersed activities, is a key factor feeing the
growth and importance of central corporate functions.

2. These central functions become so complex that increasingly the

headquarters of large global firms outsource them: they buy a
share of their central functions from highly specialized service
firms.

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 3. Those specialized service firms engaged tin the most complex
and globalized markets are subject to agglomeration economies.

4. The more headquarters outsource their most complex, n-

standardized functions, particularly those subject to uncertain
and changing markets, the freer they are to opt for any location.

5. These specialized service firms need to provide a global service

which has meant a global network of affiliates… and a
strengthening of cross border city-to-city transactions and
networks.

6. The economic fortunes of these cities become increasingly

disconnected from their broader hinterlands or even their
national economies.

7. One result of the dynamics described in the hypothesis six, is

the growing informalization of a range of economic activities
which find their effectives demand in these cities, yet have profit
rates that do not allow them to compete for various resources
with the high-profit making firms at the top of the system.

As opined by Little (n.d), three key tendencies seem to follow from

these structural facts about global cities. One is a concentration of
wealth in the hands of owners, partners, and professionals associated
with the high-end firms in this system. Second is a growing
disconnection between the city and its region. And third is the growth
of a large marginalized population that has a very hard time earning a
living in the marketplace defined by these high-end activities. Rather
than constituting an economic engine that gradually elevates the
income and welfare of the whole population, the modern global city
funnels global surpluses into the hands of a global elite dispersed over
a few dozen global cities.

MIGRATION, MOBILITY AND THE GLOBAL CITY

The rise of globalization, in a massive scale has influenced the

creation of the Global City has also created avenues for people to
migrate (Hall and Pain, 2006).
In this era of globalization, the world is now ‘borderless’ in which
capital, information and production can be moved across national

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border seamlessly. While globalization has blurred the distinction
between countries, the flow of economic resources, such as human
capital and financial capital, has become easier than ever before. In
effect, globalization redefines the relationships between economic
production and territoriality, social processes and institutions. This
borderless realm has also contributed to the rise of migration into
global cities. The contention is held that without the contribution by
international migrants, a person who moves from one place to another
to see a better living (Anderson, 2015), global cities might not be as
impactful as they are in the development of the global economy. Global
cities are attractive to firms due to the possibility of being able to tap a
diverse pool of highly skilled labor, including the expatriate (Brenner,
1998).
To what extent has the development of the Global City affected
migration?
According to Sassen (1991), the geography of globalization consists
both a dynamic dispersal and centralization. With globalization, the
increasing spatial dispersal of economic activities at metropolitan,
national, and global level has contributed to the need of a new
territorial centralization of top-level management and central
corporate functions.
As those central corporate functions, such as human resources,
technology, compliance, are becoming more complex, many large
global firms outsource them to highly specialized firms. To benefit
from agglomeration economies, these transnational companies would
operate in global cities, where they are closely clustered with
specialized service firms. In urban economics, firms can achieve
economies of scales and network effects when agglomerating with each
other; with more firms of related business engage in the clustering of
economic activity, cost of production decreases, hence increasing
returns to scale (Glaeser, 2011).
As such, both the large global firm and the specialized service
firm could benefit in operating closely in global cities. When those
specialized firms provided global services, their global network is
strengthened. In the long run, this business practice would positively
impact the global economy, since people’s employment is secured, and
at the same time, both firms who engage in the international trade in
services would be benefited. Therefore, it is clear that global cities are
central to the development of the global economy in general and
employment – oriented migration in particular (Alderson, et. al (2010).
Nowadays, many large corporations invest substantially in
corporate technology to streamline their business. As such,

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technology-consulting companies, such as Accenture, IBM, receive
plenty of business opportunities (Taylor, 2004).
Other than outsourcing, many TNCs choose to near-shore or
offshore their central corporate functions to save cost and most
importantly, avoid the risk of customer’s data leak. A new-shoring
example would be Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley operating in
Birmingham and Glasgow respectively, where their technology and
compliance centers are located due to the lower operating cost,
compared to that of London, the global city. Additionally, many
financial institutions offshore their technology function to Bangalore –
Silicon Valley of India. While off shoring can benefit the global
economy, as it provides job security for employees in the offshore-
offices, over-reliance on certain type of services i.e. technology would
hinder the long-term development of a country. It could be argued that
such pigeonholding is a form of division of labor and economies of
scale, through which employees can do what they do best, and at the
same time, the employers can operate at a better cost-level. Equally
importantly, the off shoring business could provide a better standard
of living for people in the developing countries like India; nevertheless,
this may lead to wealth inequality between the offshore city and the
rest of the country, for instance, 39.93% of people in Chhatisgarh are
living below poverty line, which is almost double than that of
Karnataka (the state of Bangalore) with 29.91% (Reserve Bank of
India, 2014).

Onshore Outsourcing: Outsourcing operations of the

company to another company located in the home country
or region. Companies can reduce labor costs somewhat
and benefit from highly skilled labor with little or no
language or cultural barrier, but the cost of such
operations is high compared to offshore or near shore
locations.

Offshore Outsourcing: Outsourcing the operations of the

company to other companies that are located in a foreign
country, and most likely have a different language and
culture. Offshore outsourcing offers benefits like higher
cost savings and access to highly skilled labor.

Near Shore Outsourcing: Outsourcing the operations of the

company to an adjacent or nearby country having similar
culture and language skills. Near shore outsourcing offers

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 some cost savings over onshore and has the added benefit
of proximity for more frequent site visits, while retaining a
highly skilled labor pool.

Without the contribution by international migrants, a person

who moves from one place to another to seek a better living, Anderson,
(2015) suggests that global cities might not be as impactful as they are
in the development of the global economy. As suggested by (Findly, Li,
Jowett and Skeldon, 1996), global cities are attractive to firms due to
the possibility of being able to tap a diverse pool of highly skilled labor,
including expatriate. Nowadays, ‘diversity’ (in any form, e.g. racial,
gender, cultural) has become one of the ‘corporate values’ for many
TNCs (Transnational Corporations). Companies tend to hire more
people from different backgrounds. In particular, highly skilled
migrants, such as senior or middle management, are popular in the
labor market.
To evaluate, the impact of highly skilled migrants in global cities
is also determined upon the business needs in that particular city. In
Hong Kong’s asset wealth management industry, there used to be a
significant presence of the non-portfolio managers or private bankers
to serve the foreign or British tycoons who reside in the city. However,
in modern times, given the rise of Chinese’s wealth, those highly
skilled international migrants, i.e. non-Chinese private bankers, are
forced to leave Hong Kong, since investment banks tend to hire
Chinese-speaking private bankers to serve their new targeted
customers i.e. the Chinese tycoons. As such, the impact of the highly
skilled migrants (in this case, the non-Chinese-speaking private
bankers) in global city (i.e. Hong Kong) is dependent on the business
needs and the clients’ expectation (Taylor, 2001).

In global cities, lowly skilled migrants are equally attractive. For

example, in Hong Kong, physical-based occupations like security
guards and construction workers employ plenty of migrants from the
Southeast Asian countries due to the lack of the supply of labor in
those business sectors. Regardless of their aspiration, whether it is to
seek permanent residency or to purely earn a better living, these lowly
skilled workers have undoubtedly contributed much to the local city,
as being part of the labor force in that particular sector. However, the
impact of the international migrants in global cities also depends on
the work nature and the skill set requirement of that particular job.
Taking the financial services intuitions in London as example, while
TNCs hope to recruit more international migrants to boost their

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‘diversity ratio’, many of the recruited international migrants are based
on non-client facing roles like the middle or back office in investment
banks (Lam, 2016). In effect, the argument holds that since the
opportunities are present and well defined in most global cities, the
tendency for migration to increase in these areas over time is also very
apparent and most likely to happen.

GLOBAL CITY AND MOBILITY

An increasing migration tendency and the desire to live in the

cities bring several problems closely knit to urbanization. One of these
concerns mobility of people. By 2050, 70% of the people on earth will
live in cities. And if current trends continue, those people are likely to
face even more crowded conditions, polluted air, and overburdened
infrastructures than we do today. Urbanization statistics warn us that
the quality of life in many cities will be decided by the degree to which
major cities can implement intelligent, sustainable transport
solutions. Traffic indeed a problem especially in highly populated
cities. Traffic congestion is increasingly becoming a global issue, with
drivers spending nearly 50% of their driving time in traffic in some
cities around the world. The Philippines is no exception. In Manila,
traffic is worsening and according to a study done by the Boston
Consulting Group, motorists and commuters get stuck in traffic for an
average of 66 minutes daily. The said study conducted in 2017 places
Metro Manila 3rd worst in the South East Asian region, with an
average of 66 minutes stuck in traffic daily. It comes after Bangkok,
Thailand which is said to have the worst traffic (72 minutes), and 2nd
worst Jakarta, Indonesia (68 minutes). The worsening traffic in Metro
Manila now costs P3.5 billion in lost opportunities per day,
highlighting the need for new and modern infrastructure to east
congestion according to a study made by Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA). The best performers in terms of traffic are
Singapore (30 minutes) and Hong Kong (35 minutes), two Asian states
considered as global cities.

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Investing in Public Transport
Banning cars may mitigate the traffic conditions but is not at all
an effective solution. One consideration is by investing on Public
railways (Brenner, 1998). Most alpha cities possess a very elaborate
yet so effective mass transport system. One has to look into the MTR
of Hongkong or the MRT of Taiwan and the generalization could be
made how an efficient mass train system can effectively lessen road
traffic. The city of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia is a good example of the
tremendous efforts that are being made in this area. Riyadh, which
has five million inhabitants and is still rapidly growing, is now
planning the world’s biggest subway project, which will be 175
kilometers long (Lam, 2016).
Multilateral agencies have put forward the improvement of
public infrastructure as a long-term solution to traffic congestion. The
study echoes this, pointing out that billion in rail infrastructure by
2022. The Philippine government is trying to address the poor
infrastructure situation with its Build, Build, Build campaign, which
seeks to raise public spending on infrastructure from 5.3% of the
gross domestic product (GDP) this year to 7.4% by 2022 in which a big
chunk will be funneled down towards improving the mass transport
system.

Just a Quick Recap!

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  A Global city. Also known by other terminologies as “alpha city” or
“world center” is a city regarded as a primary node in the global
economic network.
 A Global city pertains to an urban centre that enjoys significant
competitive advantages and that serves as a hub within a globalized
economic system.
 The “Big Six” include the traditional “super cities” of London, New
York, Paris and Tokyo, but more recently this quartet has been joined
by Hong Kong and Singapore.
 There are specific characteristics that are present in most global cities
which also correlate to their current status as major hubs in global
economy.
 There are various ways to assess and analyze the performance and
ranking of global cities.
 Global cities affect migration and people mobility to a large extent

References:

 Abelos, A.V., et. al. (2018). The Contemporary World. Chapter 10: The
Global Cities pp. 166-174. Mutya Publishing House, Inc.

 Coronacion, D.C., et.al. (2018). Convergence: A College Textbook in

Contemporary World. Chapter 8: The Global City pp. 153-171. Books
Atpb. Publishing Corp.

 Jim Iyoob. (June 27, 2012). “Onshore, Offshore, or Near Shore What
is the Difference?” Retrieved from
https://www.etechgs.com/onshore-offshore-near-shore-difference/

 Sassen, Saskia. 2005. “The Global City: Introducing a Concept.”

Brown Journal of World Affairs XI(2): 27-43.

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