Essay on "World Cities"

Essay 7 pages (2468 words) Sources: 6

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Geography

World Cities

A global city is a city that is thought to be significant nodule point in the global economic system. The idea comes from geography and urban studies and rests on the notion that globalization can be understood as principally fashioned, ran and endorsed in strategic geographic locations according to a hierarchy of significance to the process of the global system of money and trade. Global City or world city rank is seen as valuable, and because of this a lot of groups have attempted to categorize and position which cities are seen as world cities and which ones which are not. The criterion for classification tends either to be founded on a benchmark value or on a forthcoming determination (Beaverstock, Smith, and Taylor, 1999).

Globalization can be broken down in terms of the tactical sites where global procedures appear and the things that bind them. Among these sites are export processing sectors, off-shore banking centers, and, on a far more multifaceted level, global cities. This creates a precise geography of globalization and underscores the extent to which it is not a planetary event surrounding the entire world. It is, in addition, a changing geography, one that has altered over the last few centuries and over the last few decades. Most recently, this altering geography has come to comprise electronic space. The geography of globalization includes both a dynamic of dispersion and of centralization, a circumstance that is only now starting to receive acknowledgment. The massive trends towards the spatial dispersal of economic activities at the city, countrywide, and global levels that are linked with globalization have contributed to a command for new types of territorial centralization of top-level management and control processes. The spatial dispersion of economic activity made possible by telematics contributes to a development of innermost functions if this dispersal is to take place under the ongoing attention in control, possession, and income appropriation that characterizes the present financial system (Sassen, 2000).

The budding and growing global economy presents both occasions and pressures to the United States, and it seems that the nation is having one of its episodic spells with insecurity about their capability to vie in the global market. The United States has a mixture of mixed-up democracy, regulated capitalism and infrequent openness to immigration. That mixture has fashioned a lively and imaginative place that manages to gather a good deal of the world's brain power and originality in a single place. New York has been seen as the central meeting point of a nation of immigrants. In the 2000 census, almost forty percent of the people who lived in New York City were born in other countries. That number does not include a projected one million or so illegal immigrants that are not counted by the census or the numerous foreign diplomats, business people, and tourists that swarm the streets every day. It is also a continually changing group; while Main Street in Queens was home to Jewish immigrants and their stores a generation ago, today it is dominated by signs in Chinese and Korean (Cohen, 2010).

As the majority experts recognize, the fuel of the post-industrial financial system is mostly made up of modernism, originality and brain power, by way of intelligence, while essential, is not an adequate circumstance for modernism on its own. One must also have independence and security to believe and create. New York City offers such an atmosphere as it persists to serve as an entrance to the rest of the country. People go there first from other parts of the world, and after a few years make their way to other areas of the country. All of New York's mayors have understood the centrality of immigrants to the city's expansion and wealth. Today the city's immigrant base is more multifaceted. Of course, the city's immigrants do not only come from other countries, they also come from other American states. New York City is both a real place and a representation planted in the imagination of the determined and daring (Cohen, 2010).

New York's function as a gathering place is what makes the city work, and this approach is central to the countries long-range wealth and competitive edge. Yet this is not always understood very well. America has long had its nativist, anti-immigrant side, just as it has its anti-science and anti-intellectual leanings. Immigrants allegedly take little wage jobs away from real Americans and one way or another corrupt the culture. But in the twenty first century these visions only serve to put in danger the already shaky economic health. America's long-range role in the global marketplace is to concentrate in brain power and originality. Liberty is not just a political principle, it is an economic benefit. It can help to attract the best original and scientific talent in the world and put them to work. The media, educational and natural resources can make it the best place on Earth to live, work and play. America's great benefit in the global financial system is that we have long permitted people to come here from other regions of the world and become Americans. New York City has made immigrants a main part of our individuality all through history. As communication, information and transportation technology persist to shrink the globe, the capability to welcome immigrants can't help but provide New York with a spirited advantage in drawing and increasing businesses. As the rest of the country looks for a position in the global economy, it could do a lot worse than following New York's lead (Cohen, 2010).

The very existence of immigrants in such great numbers has had a remarkable impact on the city's wealth; its communities and a host of social, economic and cultural institutions. In fact, a dialectical association or interaction exists between the two kinds of alterations. As immigrants change when they move to New York City, they affect the existence of the city in particular ways. and, as immigrants play a role in changing New York City, this new York is turn persuades them (Froner, 1987) Economic factors, have also underpinned the big scale immigration to New York in current years. Neither the resource foundation nor the levels of financial development in immigrants' home nations are sufficient to meet the needs and potentials of their expanding populations. The United States holds out the pledge of stable employment, superior wages, and enhanced living standards (Froner, 1987)

New York was the world's top global city according to the 2010 Global Cities Index. The Global Cities Index positions cities' metro areas according to twenty five metrics across five dimensions. The first is business activity which includes the worth of its capital markets, the amount of Fortune Global 500 firms headquartered there, and the level of the goods that pass through the city. The second measurement gauges human capital, or how well the city acts as an attraction for varied groups of individuals and talent. This comprises the dimension of a city's immigrant population, the superiority of the universities, the amount of international schools, and the proportion of residents with university degrees. The third measurement is information exchange or how well news and information is dispersed about and to the rest of the world. The amount of international news bureaus, the level of censorship, the quantity of international news in the principal local papers, and the broadband subscriber rate round out that dimension. The final two regions of analysis are strange for most rankings of globalized cities or states. The fourth is cultural understanding, or the level of diverse attractions for international inhabitants and travelers. That comprises everything from how many chief sporting events a city hosts to the quantity of performing arts venues and varied culinary institutions it boasts and the sister city associations it maintains. The final dimension is political meeting which measures the quantity to which a city influences global policymaking and dialogue. By looking at the amount of embassies and consulates, major think tanks, international associations, and political conferences a city hosts (2010 Global Cities Index Ranks New York, London, Tokyo and Paris as top Global Cities, 2010).

In spite of more and more unreceptive policies and attitudes towards immigrants in rich nations, the financial contribution they make to their nations of origin is superior to all forms of foreign development support joint. Certified data shows that development nations' remittance receipts totaled one hundred and sixty billion in 2004, exceeding development assistance from all sources by fifty percent. Total remittances are anticipated to go up considerably in the years to come. Policies to decrease poverty will be insufficient without extensive acknowledgment of this vital financial connection between the rich and poor nations (Brottem, 2006).

As politicians in the United States and Europe increasingly outline immigration in terms of home security, it is necessary that new immigration strategies do not obstruct its expansion contribution. Furthermore, doubts of terrorism should not impose on the human rights of people already living the U.S. And Europe. If the $2.2… READ MORE

How to Reference "World Cities" Essay in a Bibliography

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