GLOBAL CITIES

Global Cities: An Introduction to the New Urban Sociology

[Name of the Institute]

Global Cities: An Introduction to the New Urban Sociology

Introduction

The expression global city has come to connote an only one of its kind urban habitat acting as a stage and portal for global connectivity. It bestows an image, which is multicultural, international,contemporary, “wired,” congested, cosmopolitan, commanding, and polarizing geographically transterritorial (boundless) spheres of influence. Global cities are recognized for their inspirational built environment where function meets art and for their centrality in the global affairs (Boschken, 1988, Pp. 32-56). As standard bearers of postmodern lifestyles and consumption, global cities contain the principal command centers for managing world commerce, the nexus of intercultural immersion, world-renowned research campuses, and world stages for art and entertainment. Most also are distinguished as global “gateways” harboring major airports and “load-center” seaports. As shown by Herman Boschken (2008), the term is anchored in a collective multidimensional vision that empirically describes and sets apart the global city as a complex system stemming from numerous post-World War II changes in world order (1960- present). This global reordering specifically resulted from a cumulative process involving a three-stage, partly overlapping sequence of economic, sociological, and political transformations (Boschken, 2003, Pp. 808-830). This paper discusses global cities in a holistic context.

Discussion

Globalisation has been the modern phenomenon. It is characterized by increased order-making on a worldwide scale. Globalisation has resulted in increased mobility of capital, investment, people, information and every thing else. It has, however, only benefited all. The recent technological developments have also brought the notion of globalisation. Most notable of these is the Internet. The improvement of transportation is indeed the defining factor of globalisation. However, Bauman (1998) criticizes globalisation based on human deterioration. He points out that globalisation smells of greed and self-promotion coupled with the modernization of cities and communities. He points out that the ordinary citizen of the global city is perturbed. He has to deal with the temptation to avoid consumerism; he has to differentiate between wants and needs. He also has to cope with life which is less than full in a disorderly, jobless environment of the global city (Bauman, 1998, 111-136).

Global city is akin to the ancient city of Troy. It is a 'metropolitanised' place. This metropolitan region exists everywhere around the world in one form or the other. It is an internationalisation of such metropolitan regions that join to form an archipelago of enclaves that most people in the world now call their cities. The concept of a global city can be easily understood by considering one of such cities. Toronto, in Canada, is one of the major rising global cities. Although it is not in the main tier of global cities, it falls in the second tier of emerging global cities. It has a huge population of 2.5 million people and another 2.5 million people concentrated in its suburbs, exurbs and in its sprawling edge cities. It is the major economic hub of Ontario, Canada. It has the social, economic, cultural and ...