ABSTRACT
Over the centuries, villages gradually evolved into towns, towns into cities, and cities into metropolises, world cities, mega-cities, global cities and regional cities. Whereas the differences between villages, towns, cities and metropolises may be clear, partly because we have lived with these distinctions for a longer period of time, the specific features that determine the differentiation between world-, mega-, global and regional cities are still under discussion. Comprehending exactly how cities have changed and what they are in the process of becoming, however, is crucial not only to the understanding of the development of contemporary society, but also to the identification of the potentially revolutionary role that art can play within society. Moreover, the differences between mega-, world, global and regional cities will not only tell us more about how we live and make art, but also explain why generating art within an urban context may in its turn lead to some level of involvement with the wider mechanisms at the heart of political, economic and social globalisation.
