Global Urban Analysis provides a comprehensive investigation of cities in globalisation based on a new theorisation of the global urban system and newly collected data on 525 cities and 2000 firms. This impressive and well-written book is organised into three main parts: four chapters outline the global structure of the world economy and ‘global cities’; nine chapters provide a series of world-regional connectivity analyses (for example on ‘Northern American cities in globalization’); and 22 chapters provide profiles on selected countries and sub-regional connectivity (for example on ‘Eastern European cities’). A recurring theme throughout the book is a vision of the world as networks of cities rather than as a mosaic of states.
In this illuminating account of the world city network, the authors systematically investigate, assess and rank cities around the world in terms of their importance for, among other things, corporate headquarter locations, financial services, legal services and global advertising, and provide detailed information to illustrate how ‘global cities’ are beginning to dominate the world economy. At the same time, detailed information is provided on how hundreds of other cities around the world are coping in the face of globalised urbanisation.
In summary, this unique book should prove to be very useful for city planners and policymakers, researchers in the areas of urban studies, planning and geography, as well as practitioners in the private sector and people with an interest in understanding the intensified business connections among cities in globalisation.
