ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the new theories of globalization. It provides an overview of the social restructuring process following the advent of globalization, analysing the consequences of globalization for the different social subsystems, namely the cultural, the economic and the political, and also bringing some insights to the environmental issues of advanced modernity. The chapter focuses on the urban dimension and explores the different theses and debates revolving around the transformation and restructuring of major cities in the era of globalization, mostly through the work of scholars such as Friedmann, Sassen, Castells and Cohen. The chapter deals with a number of observations about the urban environment with reference to the spatial transformation being forced onto major cities in the age of globalization. Modernity can be referred as a new mode of societal organization that started in Europe in the seventeenth century and became influential more or less worldwide.
