Intercity Relations and Globalisation: The Evolution of the Global Urban Hierarchy, 1981—2007

TLDR

The study investigates how globalisation is reshaping the world city system. Using headquarters and branch locations of the world’s 500 largest multinationals, the authors apply network analysis and blockmodelling to map the centrality and roles of over 6,300 cities. The results show a substantial restructuring of the world city system, concentrating power in a small number of cities, but do not support a new geography of inequality among cities.

Abstract

How is the world city system changing in the context of globalisation? This question is addressed using data on the headquarter and branch locations of the world’s 500 largest multinationals. The paper employs techniques developed for the analysis of networks to evaluate the more than 6300 cities that are linked together by such firms in terms of their point centrality and, using blockmodelling techniques, in terms of the positions they occupy and roles that they play in the system. The analysis indicates that the world city system is in the midst of substantial restructuring and that it is changing in such a way as to concentrate power in a small number of cities. However, in contrast to some accounts, support is not found for the idea that globalisation is generating a ‘new geography of inequality’ at the level of intercity relations.