ABSTRACT
Set within the wider context of the economic restructuring and resulting social polarization that many have claimed are the hallmarks of world cities, John Rennie short’s analysis focuses on the growing inequalities and conflicts within Docklands between the “new middle classes” or “yuppies” (young upwardly mobile people or young urban professionals) and an “underclass” of “yuffies” (young urban failures). World cities are losing their status as manufacturing centres and are becoming centres for the tertiary and quaternary sectors of the economy. A major cause of the spatial restructuring in world cities is the growth of the financial service industries which is causing a demand for office space. The mid to late 1980s has seen a commercial office boom in the world cities similar to the early 1980s. A new urban order is emerging from the contestation for political power and social meaning in world cities.
