Global cities

The main goal of this course is to discuss a range of issues related to global cities. When and why did the concept of the global city became popular among sociologists, geographers and urbanists? Can we apply the global city concept to cities beyond the Global North? How do the recent manifestations of global cities fit in more long-term developments? What are the drivers behind these developments? Which socio-economic profiles can we identify and what are the main consequences? In this course, we will discuss the literature, aim at identifying the key analytical building blocks and use these to address the questions raised above. The emphasis is on socio-economic aspects and on long-term, path-dependent trends while the geographical scope comprises both the Global North and South.
Lecture 1: Introducing the Global City
This first lecture of the course will introduce the concept of global city by (1) identifying the key analytical building blocks and (2) by embedding the concept in a long-term urban history perspective.

Clark, G. (2016). Navigating global cities. In: Global Cities: A Short History (pp. 1-10). Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7864/j.ctt1hfr1jz.4
Clark, G. (2016). Origins: trade and connectivity. In: Global Cities: A Short History (pp. 11-32). Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. Retrieved November 1, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7864/j.ctt1hfr1jz.5
Sassen, S. (1996). Rebuilding the global city: economy, ethnicity and space. In Re-presenting the city (pp. 23-42). Palgrave, London. Social Justice, Vol. 20, No. 3/4 (53-54), Global Crises, Local Struggles (Fall-Winter 1993), pp. 32-50


Lecture 2: A Generic Urban theory?
In the second lecture we will discuss whether the Western origins of urban concepts such as that of the Global City are applicable in non-western contexts.

Robinson, J. (2016) Comparative urbanism: New geographies and cultures of theorizing the urban. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research , 40(1), 187-199.
Scott, A. J., & Storper, M. (2015). The nature of cities: the scope and limits of urban theory. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39(1), 1-15.


Lecture 3: The Globalisation of Global Cities

When Saskia Sassen published her pioneering book The Global City in 1991, she looked first and foremost at London, New York and Tokyo. In the three decades that followed, the number of "global cities" has risen considerably and this has happened on a global scale - albeit with a rather pronounced geographical distribution. We will look both at this distribution and at contemporary cases of individual global cities.

Clark, G. (2016). Global cities today. In: Global Cities: A Short History (pp. 117-148). Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7864/j.ctt1hfr1jz.9
Derudder, B. (2018), 'World cities and globalization': In Kloosterman, R.C., V. Mamadouh and P.J.F. Terhorst (Eds.), Handbook of Geographies of Globalizations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishers: 340-353.


Lecture 4 The Urban Production System and the Evolution of Global Cities

The evolution of global cities is intimately intertwined with that of capitalism. With the emergence of distinct new capitalist regimes, we can also observe new urban production systems, spatial formats and socio-cultural assemblages. We first look at the long-term relationship between capitalism and urban production systems.
Kloosterman, R.C. and B. Lambregts (2007) Between accumulation and concentration of capital: Comparing the long-term trajectories of the Dutch Randstad and London urban systems. Urban Geography; 28(1), 54-73
Scott, A. J. (2011). Emerging cities of the third wave. City, 15(3-4), 289-321.


Lecture 5 Global Cities and Profiles of Social Stratification

Global cities are characterised by a particular urban production system which relies strongly on cognitive-cultural workers in high-concept, high-finance, high-tech, high-craft and other knowledge-intensive activities. These cities, however, are also home to different categories of workers who are in cleaning, serving, or caring jobs. In addition, there are also those who are outside of the (regular) labour market. In this lecture, we explore the contours of the social stratification of global cities in the North and the South
Hamnett, C. (2020). The changing social structure of global cities: Professionalisation, proletarianisation or polarisation. Urban Studies, 0042098020940556.
Timberlake, M., Wei, Y. D., Ma, X., & Hao, J. (2014). Global cities with Chinese characteristics. Cities, 41, 162-170.



Lecture 6 Global cities and Migration

The global linkages of global cities do not just entail flows of goods, services, capital and information but also those of people. Migration has, hence, become an important part of these global cities. We will explore how different categories of migrants are inserted in the socio-economic fabric of global cities.
Chiang, L. H. N., Wong, Z. K. C., & Huang, C. Y. (2016). Recent (young) Taiwanese movers to Hong Kong: Challenges and opportunities in a global city. The China Review, 137-164.
Kloosterman, R. C. (2014), "Faces of migration: migrants and the transformation of Amsterdam". In Kochan, B. (Eds.), Migration and London's Growth. London: LSE London: 127-143
Kloosterman, R.C. (2018), 'Migrant entrepreneurs and Cities; New Opportunities, Newcomers, New Issues'. In T. Caponio, P. Scholten and Ricard Zapata Barrero (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of the Governance of Migration and Diversity in Cities. Taylor & Francis/Routledge: 63-74.


Lecture 7: Global cities: Inter-Urban Networks of Producer Services

Linkages between high-end producer services constitute a key element in the conceptualisation of global cities. In this lecture, we will look at these linkages more in detail and investigate how these are related to urban development.
Bassens, D. and M. van Meeteren (2018), 'Geographies of finance in a globalizing world'. In Kloosterman, R.C., V. Mamadouh and P.J.F. Terhorst (Eds.), Handbook of Geographies of Globalizations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishers: 248-257.
Zhang, X. and R.C. Kloosterman (2014), 'Connecting the "Workshop of the World": Intra- and extra- service networks of the Pearl River Delta City-Region', Regional Studies, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2014.962492


Lecture 8: Global cities: Micro Milieus of Production

Global cities are often home to spatially concentrated related economic activities. These clusters are embedded within the wider socio-cultural and institutional context of the urban production system. In this lecture we will discuss two cases which analyse how the urban landscape is related to such clusters.

Durmaz, S. B. (2015) Analyzing the quality of place: Creative clusters in Soho and Beyoğlu. Journal of Urban Design, 20(1), 93-124.
Kloosterman, R.C. and A.M.C. Brandellero (2016), '"All these places have their moments": Exploring the Micro-Geography of Music Scenes: The Indica Gallery and the Chelsea Hotel', M/C Journal, http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/1105


Lecture 9: Global Cities and Government Policies

Cultural industries tend to tap into local resources which enable firms to carve out competitive niches. Which levers can be used to foster locally embedded cultural industries in global-city contexts?

d'Ovidio, M., & Cossu, A. (2017). Culture is reclaiming the creative city: The case of Macao in Milan, Italy. City, Culture and Society, 8, 7-12.
Kloosterman, R.C. (2018), 'The urban commons and cultural industries; An exploration of the institutional embeddedness of architectural design in the Netherlands'. In W. Salet (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Planning and Institutions in Action. New York: Routledge.: 289-299.
Kong, L. (2012) Ambitions of a global city: arts, culture and creative economy in 'Post-Crisis' Singapore. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 18(3), 279-294.


Lecture 10: The Future of Global Cities and the Impact of the Covid-19 crisis
In this final lecture we will discuss how the current Covid-19 crisis may affect global cities in the near future. Students are expected to give short presentations on how they think cities will change because of the pandemic.

Batty, Michael. 2020. "The Coronavirus Crisis: What Will the Post-Pandemic City Look Like?"
14 Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science 47 (4), 547-552.
15 doi:10.1177/2399808320926912
Clark, G. (2016). The future of global cities: Challenges and leadership needs. In Global Cities: A Short History (pp. 149-184). Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7864/j.ctt1hfr1jz.10