ABSTRACT
The seductive thesis of the impact of economic restructuring and social change in global cities has begun to generate a debate amongst European scholars. Saskia Sassen’s exposition (1991; 1994; 1996) on global cities, which she defines as prime sites of financial concentration and power, of dichotomized social structures and foci of immigration, has been particularly influential.1 The rapid growth in financial services, expansion of high-income professional and managerial residents, and new cultural forms in everyday living, have in turn generated demand for low-skilled and flexibly provided services. Though not to the same extent as in New York, labor demand for lesser skilled and precarious work has also been filled by immigrant workers in European cities. European scholars have thus taken a cue from her analysis and raised questions about the existence of an immigrant underclass in cities with varying degrees of global command, such as London, Paris, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Berlin, Frankfurt, and Brussels (see special issues of Built Environment 1994; Hamnett 1994a; New Community 1996).
