GEC103 The Global City
GEC103 The Global City
GEC103 The Global City
Much of the analysis of globalization has looked at how ideas of internationalism shaped modern
world politics. What we will learn here is that globalization is spatial. This statement means two things.
1. Globalization is spatial because it occurs in physical spaces. You can see it when foreign
investment and capital move through a city, and when companies build skyscrapers. People who are
working in these businesses start to purchase or rent high-rise condominium units and better homes.
As all these events happen, more poor people are driven out of city centers to make way for modern
developments.
2. Globalization is spatial, what makes it move is the fact that it is based in places. Los Angeles,
the home of Hollywood, is where movies are made for global consumption. The main headquarters of
Sony is in Tokyo, and from there, the company coordinates the sale of various electronics goods to
branches across the world. In other words, cities act on globalization and globalization acts on cities.
They are sites as well as a medium of globalization. Just as the internet enables and shapes global forces,
so too are cities.
Conclusion
Global cities are sites and mediums of Globalization. They are the material representation of the
phenomenon. We see the best of globalization; they are places that create exciting fusions of culture
and ideas. They are places that create tremendous wealth. However, they remain sites of great
inequality, where global servants serve global entrepreneurs. The question of how globalization can be
more just is partly a question of how people make their cities more just.