World Cities exhibit and exert cultural and economic authority. These urban agglomerations act as command and control centres for organising the world economy, especially in terms of the concentration and accumulation of international capital. Also these cities:
- Are centres of innovation and service based industries
- Are markets for the products and innovations by the new economy
- Are a focus of the location of finance and specialised service firms- corporate lawyers, accounting firms, management consultants and advertising agencies
The economic authority of world cities includes their knowledge structures and their ability to generate, communicate and disseminate beliefs relating to economic strategies and business climate
- HQs for TNCs
- HQs for many IGOs that play a major role in the global economy. These include the World Trade Organisation in NY and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris
- Key locations for a full range of financial services. Major stock exchanges and the world’s biggest banks
- Key locations for specialised services
- Markets for a vast range of goods and services. Fifth Avenue & the Champs de Elysee
Article: Top 3 Financial Centres in the World
Map: Global Map of Fortune 500 companies
Cultural Hubs
- World Cities are cultural hotspots and dominate and influence globalised western culture
- Stage: London’s West End, NY’s Broadway
- Screen: Los Angeles’ Hollywood, Tropfest in Sydney
- Sport: Olympics, Tennis Grand Slams
- Museums: MOMA NY, British Museum, The Lourve
- Social infrastructure such as hotels, office buildings and conference centres
Four out of five people say that culture is main reason that they come to London, with cultural tourists spending £7.3 billion in 2013 (GLA 2015)
World Cities Culture Report 2015
Read the handout below and make a summary of the details in your workbook.
Hotspots 2025
Citi Bank produced a report investigating the competitiveness of cities now and in the future. Find the document here and find a summary below:
- Already global business is beginning to plan strategy from a city rather than a country perspective
- Well over half of the world’s population lives in cities, generating more than 80% of global GDP
- North American and European cities are among the world’s most competitive today and are likely to retain their advantage until 2025, despite concerns over ageing populations and infrastructure, indebtedness and slow growth.
- The combined GDP of China and India is projected to exceed that of the major seven (G7) OECD economies in 2025. Despite this, leading cities in Western countries will continue successfully to compete against fast-growing emerging-market cities.
- Asia’s economic rise is reflected in the competitiveness of its cities in 2025.
- The quality of institutions matters greatly for cities’ economic competitiveness.
- Cities of all sizes can be competitive.
- African cities lag most on competitiveness, while major cities in Latin America improve theirs.
- Easy maritime access helps cities rapidly to ascend in the overall rankings.
- The quality of a city’s physical capital is highly correlated with its overall competitiveness.
Connectography 