ABSTRACT
For some years now, the debate on the urban predicament has centred on the notion of the global city, defined as the crucial node where capital, human resources, information and commodities are produced, exchanged and consumed. A small number of predominant cities function as the spatial articulation of the global flows that constitute the world economy. A great deal of inconclusive debate followed as analysts attempted to define the key characteristics of the global city, to identify the members of this exclusive club, and to rank them in some kind of hierarchy. It is perhaps more important to understand the processes of change than to create an inventory, and for that reason the term ‘globalising city’ has a broader appeal and a greater utility. Almost all cities are influenced by the process of globalisation, but their importance is less a matter of their placement in the hierarchy than of the nature and extent of global influences on the way cities are shaped and developed.
