ABSTRACT
Ulsan, South Korea, is home to the world's largest auto production complex, its fifth largest automaker, its biggest shipyard and shipbuilder, and the globe's second largest petrochemicals combine. In addition, these firms have export linkages on six continents. Yet, since it does not qualify as a center of international finance, the city never has been or will be ranked among the world's most important cities by Global/World City theorists. Nevertheless, similar to other current and historical Great Industrial Cities, such as Manchester, Essen, Detroit, and Shanghai, Ulsan has become a vital cog in, and instrument of, global capitalism.
