ABSTRACT

This chapter develops the argument that a widely used conceptual apparatus from economic geography – the global production networks (GPN) framework – can be used to reveal much about the nature, possibilities and limitations of urban politics in the contemporary era. It considers in greater detail how GPN theory is well suited to providing a framing for these discussions. The chapter explores the strategic coupling concept to reveal the multiple modes and types of coupling that exist in the contemporary global economy, demonstrating the various ways whereby urban territories may be incorporated into wider regional and global production networks. It evaluates the urban politics of strategic coupling as the domain through which the inherent tensions and frictions of urban economic development and governance are negotiated and contested. The chapter examines the city-region as a territorial and institutional setting for the grounding of global production networks.