The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo

by Saskia Sassen

Overview

This classic work chronicles how New York, London, and Tokyo became command centers for the global economy and in the process underwent a series of massive and parallel changes. What distinguishes Sassen's theoretical framework is the emphasis on the formation of cross-border dynamics through which these cities and the growing number of other global cities begin to form strategic transnational networks. All the core data in this new edition have been updated, while the preface and epilogue discuss the relevant trends in globalization since the book originally came out in 1991.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400847488
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	04/04/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Saskia Sassen is Professor of Sociology and of the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago. Her other books include Guests and Aliens, The Mobility of Labor and Capital, Losing Control, and Globalization and Its Discontents.

Table of Contents

List of Tables xi
Preface to the New Edition xvii

Acknowledgments xxv
One
Overview 3
PART ONE: THE GEOGRAPHY AND COMPOSITION OF GLOBALIZATION 17
Two
Dispersal and New Forms of Centralization 23
Mobility and Agglomeration 24
Capital Mobility and Labor Market Formation 32
Conclusion 34
Three
New Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment 37
Major Patterns 37
International Transactions in Services 44
Conclusion 63
Four
Internationalization and Expansion of the Financial Industry 65
Conditions and Components of Growth 66
The Global Capital Market Today 74
Financial Crises 78
Conclusion 83
PART TWO: THE ECONOMIC ORDER OF THE GLOBAL CITY 85
Five
The Producer Services 90
The Category Services 92
The Spatial Organization of Finance 110
New Forms of Centrality 122
Conclusion 126
Six
Global Cities: Postindustrial Production Sites 127
Location of Producer Services: Nation, Region, and City 130
New Elements in the Urban Hierarchy 140
Conclusion 167
Seven
Elements of a Global Urban System: Networks and Hierarchies 171
Towards Networked Systems 172
Expansion and Concentration 175
Leading Currencies in International Transactions 187
The International Property Market 190
Conclusion 195
PART THREE: THE SOCIAL ORDER OF THE GLOBAL CITY 197
Eight
Employment and Earnings 201
Three Cities, One Tale? 201
Earnings 221
Conclusion 249
Nine
Economic Restructuring as Class and Spatial Polarization 251
Overall Effects of Leading Industries 252
Social Geography 256
Consumption 284
Casual and Informal Labor Markets 289
Race and Nationality in the Labor Market 305
Conclusion 323
IN CONCLUSION 327
Ten
A New Urban Regime? 329
Epilogue 345
The Global City Model 346
The Financial Order 355
The Producer Services 359
Social and Spatial Polarization 361
Appendices
A Classification of Producer Services by U.S., Japanese, and British SIC 367
B Definitions of Urban Units: Tokyo, London, New York 369
C Population of Selected Prefectures and Major Prefectural Cities 373
D Tokyo's Land Market 374
Bibliography 383
Index 435

Editorial Reviews

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1992

From the Publisher

"A multi-disciplinary tour de force that should be read not only by regional economists but also by urban geographers, sociologists, and planners."

Development and Change

"[A] high-powered and at times horrific book. Sassen shows how dangerously city life has been affected by the influx of employees of the multinational firms which move into major cities and virtually colonize them, riving even greater wedges between the rich and poor."

The Observer

An exciting and persuasive work. It incorporates a herculean research effort.

Journal of the American Planning Association - Susan Fainstein

The implications of Sassen's research . . . are sobering.

Times Literary Supplement - Rudolf Klein

The most detailed and sophisticated anatomy yet published of the functioning of the new producer services sector in the global economy.

Urban Affairs Quarterly - Mark Levine

A landmark study in the political economy of cities.

Newsline - Anthony King

A very significant book indeed. . . . A systematic detailed analysis of the three largest urban economies in the advanced world.

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research - Peter Hall

This is brilliant stuff, both in its broadness of sociological scope and its voluminous collection of data from a vast number of sources in the three cities.

The Times Higher Education Supplement - Scott Lash

An exciting and persuasive work. It incorporates a herculean research effort.
— Susan Fainstein

Journal of the American Planning Association

The implications of Sassen's research . . . are sobering.
— Rudolf Klein

Times Literary Supplement

The most detailed and sophisticated anatomy yet published of the functioning of the new producer services sector in the global economy.
— Mark Levine

Urban Affairs Quarterly

A landmark study in the political economy of cities.
— Anthony King

Newsline

A very significant book indeed. . . . A systematic detailed analysis of the three largest urban economies in the advanced world.
— Peter Hall

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

This is brilliant stuff, both in its broadness of sociological scope and its voluminous collection of data from a vast number of sources in the three cities.
— Scott Lash

The Times Higher Education Supplement