The concept of the “global city” was invented in the 1990s by Saskia Sassen to
describe a new type of city that specialized in transnational relations. Initially,
the focus was on London, New York, and Tokyo, but the idea was soon
generalized by the sociologist Manuel Castells to include a broader range of
cities that formed the nodes and hubs in his interpretation of contemporary
society as a “network society.” This notion was then expanded to suggest the
existence of a “world city network,” emphasizing the global scope of the
services offered by contemporary cities. What we now call globalization
originated from the combining of the computer and communication industries
in the 1970s, which enabled new levels of worldwide contact and organization.
This “shrinking” of the world has had profound implications economically,
politically, and culturally. One unforeseen effect has been the increasing
importance of cities. Although it was initially thought that globalization would
reduce the functional importance of cities, the increased worldwide dispersal
of human activities has in fact generated new organizational demands to
manage, service, and generally facilitate the intensification of global relations.
History
School
Social Sciences
Department
Geography and Environment
Published in
Atlas of Cities
Pages
106 - 123
Citation
DERUDDER, B. ... et al., 2014. The global city. IN: Knox, P. (ed.) Atlas of Cities. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 106 - 123.
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