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World Cities in the Era of Globalization
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World Cities in the Era of Globalization

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 12948

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Piotr Raźniak

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Guest Editor
Department of Socio-Economic Geography, Institute of Geography, Pedagogical University of Krakow, 30-084 Krakow, Poland
Interests: command and control functions of cities; energy sector; finance of energy corporations; corporate headquarters; globalization; transnational corporations; urban studies
Dr. György Csomós

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Guest Editor
University of Debrecen, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Hungary
Interests: urban studies; urban geography; urban planning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Both Friedmann’s world city concept and Sassen’s global city theory were coined in a historical period characterized by descriptive terms such as globalization, neoliberalism, individualism, deregulation, free trade, supranationalism, transnational corporations, and the international division of labor. In that time period, world/global cities positioned themselves at the focal points of the world economy by acquiring corporate control functions and providing advanced producer services to various actors in the economy. In addition, due to these cities’ global centrality in the world urban system, they have also become central in international flows of immigrant labor. The most recent past, however, may be characterized by phenomena such as Donald Trump’s America First policy, the United Kingdom’s leaving of the European Union known as Brexit, ongoing trade wars between the United States and China and the European Union, deepening of China’s economic slowdown, a massive increase in migration towards developed countries, growing popularity of illiberalism in some Eastern European and Latin American countries, and endless conflicts and wars in the Middle East. As a consequence, world cities face new challenges that significantly impact not only their position in the world urban system and the quality of interurban relations, but also their development and internal evolution.

This Special Issue aims to reveal how world cities reflect on these emerging challenges of our era. We are pleased to invite scholars to participate in this endeavor by submitting papers relevant to this topic. We wish to invite you to submit comparative analyses for groups of cities as well as case studies focused on individual cities.

Dr. Piotr Raźniak
Dr. György Csomós
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • world city
  • global city
  • globalization
  • transnational corporations
  • corporate control function
  • world city network

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2447 KiB  
Article
Exploring the Shifting Geographical Pattern of the Global Command-and-Control Function of Cities
by Piotr Raźniak, György Csomós, Sławomir Dorocki and Anna Winiarczyk-Raźniak
Sustainability 2021, 13(22), 12798; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132212798 - 19 Nov 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1538
Abstract
In recent years, some cities have experienced significant growth in terms of command and control functions of cities, and thus have managed to relocate themselves to a much upscale position in the global economy. The main goal of this study is to examine [...] Read more.
In recent years, some cities have experienced significant growth in terms of command and control functions of cities, and thus have managed to relocate themselves to a much upscale position in the global economy. The main goal of this study is to examine the command-and-control function of cities and the impact of the relocation of corporate headquarters on a city’s command-and-control function. The study examines the changes in the revenues of companies located in selected cities and countries and measure the command-and-control function (“C&C”) of cities that well illustrates the strength of cities and countries in the global economy. To achieve our goals, we employ a composite indicator, the Command and Control Index that integrates such fundamental financial data of companies as revenues, profits, market value, and assets. In the analysis, we consider the companies that are listed by Forbes Global 2000. Our findings reinforce that the command-and-control function of the traditional centers of corporate headquarters has been lessening for a while, whereas cities located in developing countries and China in the first place have been occupying an increasing position in the global command and control. Now, we are experiencing the robust growth of Beijing’s command-and-control function index, and the decline of that index of the former leaders (i.e., New York, London, and Tokyo). We can also draw the conclusion that the migration of headquarters does not significantly impact the change of cities’ command-and-control function. In addition, when relocating the headquarters, most companies have remained within the same country and some of them have not even left the metropolitan area itself. In recent years, the number of those companies that have relocated the corporate headquarters has increased, and they have experienced increase in their revenues as well. To attract more corporate headquarters, cities has to offer an attractive environment for companies which strategy should be supported by such governmental initiatives as the reduction of corporate taxes for relocated companies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue World Cities in the Era of Globalization)
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12 pages, 854 KiB  
Article
Managing Global Smart Cities in an Era of 21st Century Challenges
by Milan Kubina, Dominika Šulyová and Josef Vodák
Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2610; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13052610 - 01 Mar 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3348
Abstract
Globalization, integration and liberalism are concepts that have been used since ancient history and have influenced urban governance to this day. The aim of the article is to find out, based on the historical development of globalization, Friedmann’s urban concept and Sassen’s global [...] Read more.
Globalization, integration and liberalism are concepts that have been used since ancient history and have influenced urban governance to this day. The aim of the article is to find out, based on the historical development of globalization, Friedmann’s urban concept and Sassen’s global theory of cities—how world cities reflect the new challenges of 21st century globalization. In the recent past, building of the global urban network has been influenced by factors such as the growth of populism, neoliberalism, migration, the existence of exploitative centers, urbanization and changes in the demographic curve. Similar to the year 2020, also in 2021 cities must face a single global challenge posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. In this article the authors used methods of comparative analysis of global Smart Cities such as New York, London and Tokyo. The discussion section includes a summary of results of the analysis, and a design of a new general model for managing global challenges in cities is introduced. The results of the article point towards the role and influence of cultural differences of global cities and this also relates to the approach to managing the new challenges of current times. New York and London are culturally closer and also showed similar results, whereas Tokyo differs across all analyzed elements. The main result of the article are the answers to the research questions and the design of a new general model which involves various elements of globalization management and which is based on the world best practices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue World Cities in the Era of Globalization)
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19 pages, 2819 KiB  
Article
Role of Advanced Producer Services Shaping Globalization Processes in a Post-Industrial Region: The Case of the Górnośląsko-Zagłębiowska Metropolis
by Elżbieta Zuzańska-Żyśko
Sustainability 2021, 13(1), 211; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13010211 - 28 Dec 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2983
Abstract
The paper discusses the emergence of a new regional network of connectivities in the area of advanced producer services in a formerly industrial region in southern Poland. Changes in the region’s job market and the influx of foreign firm centers suggest the presence [...] Read more.
The paper discusses the emergence of a new regional network of connectivities in the area of advanced producer services in a formerly industrial region in southern Poland. Changes in the region’s job market and the influx of foreign firm centers suggest the presence of globalization processes in the economy. Advanced producer service companies tend to cluster around the regional capital of Katowice and use the city as a gateway to other parts of the studied region. This process leads to the replacement of jobs characterized by lower qualifications with jobs requiring more advanced knowledge, new technologies, and a variety of forms of innovation. International economic networks play an increasingly large role in the entrenchment of economic globalization in the Górnośląsko-Zagłebiowska Metropolis, which has helped the city join other Polish cities in the classification of the World Cities Research Network. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue World Cities in the Era of Globalization)
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15 pages, 222 KiB  
Article
A Tale of Three Cities: The Rise of Dubai, Singapore, and Miami Compared
by Alejandro Portes
Sustainability 2020, 12(20), 8566; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12208566 - 16 Oct 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3936
Abstract
The literature on “global cities”, following a publication by Saskia Sassen of a book under the same title, has focused on those prime centers of the capitalist economy that concentrate on command-and-control functions in finance and trade worldwide. New York, London, Tokyo, and [...] Read more.
The literature on “global cities”, following a publication by Saskia Sassen of a book under the same title, has focused on those prime centers of the capitalist economy that concentrate on command-and-control functions in finance and trade worldwide. New York, London, Tokyo, and sometimes, Frankfurt and Paris are commonly cited as such centers. In recent years, however, another set of mercantile and financial centers have arisen. They reproduce, on a regional basis, the features and functions of the prime global cities. Dubai, Miami, and Singapore have emerged during the first quarter of the XXI century as such new regional centers. This paper explores the history of the three; the mechanisms that guided their ascent to their present position; and the pitfalls—political and ecological—that may compromise their present success. The rise of these new global cities from a position of insignificance is primarily a political story, but the stages that the story followed and the key participants in it are quite different. A systematic comparison of the three cities offer a number of lessons for urban scholarship and development policies. Such lessons are supplemented by the experiences of other cities that attempted to achieve or sustain a similar global status but failed, for various reasons, to do so. Such experiences are also discussed in the conclusion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue World Cities in the Era of Globalization)
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