Full Description
'This is a truly refreshing take on the phenomenon of global cities. For far too long we've been seduced by the flows and networks that reproduce global cities without considering the actors, individuals, organisations, institutions, that make and shape the global-local dynamics of such spaces in global society. Throughout this collection of essays, there is a rich empirical narrative which reminds scholars of global city and urban studies that without the agency of actors, whether that be economic, political, cultural or social, any notion of flow and networks would simply wither on the vine. In short, this is a new benchmark on the geography of the global city in contemporary globalisation.'
-Jonathan V. Beaverstock, University of Bristol, UK
Global City Makers provides an in-depth account of the role of powerful economic actors in making and un-making global cities. Engaging critically and constructively with global urban studies from a relational economic geography perspective, the book outlines a renewed agenda for global cities research.
This book conceptualizes global cities as places from where the world economy is managed and controlled, and discusses the significance of economic actors and their practices in the formation of the world city network. Focusing on financial services, management consultancy, real estate, commodity trading and maritime industries, the detailed case studies are located across the globe to incorporate major global cities such as London, New York and Tokyo as well as globalizing cities including Mexico City, Hamburg and Mumbai.
This ground-breaking book will appeal to a broad audience including scholars in urban studies, economic geography and international management as well as urban policy-makers and practitioners in globalizing firms.
Contributors include: D. Bassens, N. Beerepoot, S. Hall, M. Hesse, M. Hoyler, W. Jacobs, J. Kleibert, B. Lambregts, C. Lizieri, D. Mekic, C. Parnreiter, S. Sassen, D. Scofield, M. van Meeteren, A. Watson, S. Yamamura
Contents
Contents:
Prologue: The global city: enabling economic intermediation and bearing its costs
Saskia Sassen
1. Agency and practice in the making of global cities: towards a renewed research agenda
Michael Hoyler, Christof Parnreiter and Allan Watson
2. Producer service firms as global city makers: the cases of Mexico City and Hamburg
Christof Parnreiter
3. Commodity traders as agents of economic globalization
Wouter Jacobs
4. Real estate and global capital networks: drilling into the City of London
Colin Lizieri and Daniel Mekic
5. Global cities, local practices: intermediation in the commercial real estate markets of New York City and London
David Scofield
6. The making of transnational urban space: financial professionals in the global city Tokyo
Sakura Yamamura
7. The making of Mumbai as a global city: investigating the role of the offshore services sector
Bart Lambregts, Jana Kleibert and Niels Beerepoot
8. Focal firms, grand coalitions or global city makers? Globalization vs. new localism in Hamburg's maritime network
Markus Hesse
9. Chasing the phantom of a 'global end game': the role of management consultancy in the narratives of pre-failure ABN AMRO
Michiel van Meeteren and David Bassens
Epilogue: Placing politics and power within the making of global cities
Sarah Hall
Index
