ABSTRACT
Since the economic crisis of the early 1970s, a transition to a new phase has been recognized in the development of the world economy. This economic restructuring is being orchestrated by transnational corporations through an emerging set of world cities-nodal points in transport and communications networks controlling and co-ordinating global economic activity and sites for the production of associated inputs (Friedmann and Wolff 1982; Friedmann 1986; Feagin and Smith 1987). A key role in this new metropolitan hierarchy has been afforded by transnational capital to both construction companies and property developers. Based in topranking world cities, the international financial institutions are engaged in reshuffling ownership and control of productive assets on a global scale. At the behest of their financial overlords, transnational construction companies and property developers, widely-dispersed throughout the metropolitan hierarchy, are employed in transforming the physical fabric of cities and regions with the aid of an international army of peripheralized labour. Before investing in particular construction projects, however, the leading financial agencies draw upon the advice of transnational engineering consultants to assess their location, specifications and likely rate of return.
