Global city

As a global city cities are designated by superior world-wide importance. A cosmopolitan city has central importance for large parts of the world, political, economic or cultural fields.

In contrast to the partially synonymous related term capital, which can also be used in relation to a specific area or function in the world city concept is the entire urban system of the earth of the reference and comparison framework.

• 2.1 Global City
• 2.2 metropolis
• 2.3 million city
• 2.4 Mega City

• 3.1 GaWC 1999, 2004, 2008, 2010
• 3.2 Global Cities Index 2010, 2012
• 3.3 Global City Competitiveness Index 2012
• 3.4 Global Power City Index 2010, 2011
• 3.5 World City Survey 2010, 2011

• 4.1 Mercer Quality of Living Index 2009 - 2012
• 4.2 Monocle Quality of Life Index 2010 - 12
• 4.3 Quality of Life According to the Global Power City Index 2010, 2011

• 5.1 Germany
• 5.2 Austria and Switzerland
• 5.3 Luxembourg
• 5.4 Historic World Cities

Criteria

Has a world city or possessed central to much of the world, political, economic or cultural fields.

Political significance

World cities are in the political sense and were the centers of power of the great empires and influential economies. Historically important world cities had about Alexandria, Rome, Constantinople Opel, London, Moscow and Lisbon, who exercised their power on several continents. The important political centers of the present are mostly the capitals of the major economies such as Washington, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo and Beijing. The seat of government of a state is also home to various embassies and consulates. Not infrequently he is also the seat of national associations, non-governmental and advocacy agencies, thereby increasing the global relevance of a city.

New York as the headquarters of the most important international institution (UN) can with restrictions, be regarded as a global political center. A number of UN agencies and other international institutions are based in Geneva and Vienna. Brussels, the seat of the European Commission and NATO, also has an international political significance, especially as these institutions operate not only within Europe and the transatlantic space, but also around the world and are perceived.

Economic Importance

World cities in the economic sense are mainly cities that have a high number of global companies. There are usually centers of different industries and in particular the highly paid financial and service economy. An above-average per capita economic output in the national and international frames to the evidence.

The three major economic regions of the developed world ( East Asia, Europe, North America) have here one leading metropolis emerged (Tokyo, London and New York, Saskia Sassen, refer to Global city theory ). Supplementary financial centers still outstanding international importance are Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, Seoul and Sydney in the Pacific region; Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Amsterdam and Zurich in Europe as well as Chicago and Toronto in North America. Even in economic emerging markets, important financial centers have developed their trading volume but with the exception of Mexico City and Shanghai is still far from the established cities, such as Mumbai ( Bombay ), Moscow, Istanbul, Bangkok and São Paulo.

Due to the large mutual interdependence of the world economy, the financial centers are usually also important transport hubs, especially in air traffic. A first definition of world cities in the economic sense under consideration and involvement of the findings of other geographers and economists returned in 1986 John Friedmann, who hereby created his World City Theory and updated several times since then.

Cultural Significance

World cities in the cultural sense are objectively identify much more difficult because there is little quantifiable indicators (such as government or top management, passenger numbers or the trading volume of the stock exchange ). Cultural centers have eg central functions for the range of a world language such as London, New York and Los Angeles for large parts of the Anglophone world, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Madrid for Latin America, Paris for large parts of Francophone Africa and Cairo for the Arab world. World cities with a cultural focus are a magnet for artists and cultural workers such as Berlin and Vienna, place high tourist attractiveness and location of major institutions ( museums, theaters, annual festivals, and others) is of paramount importance or pioneer cultural developments.

Among the cities with a cultural focus also include centers where cultural goods such as fashion, film, music, art, architecture, and video games are produced. Here is an example of Milan as a fashion center or Mumbai may be cited as Film City (Bollywood). Cross- sporting events such as the Olympic Games and World Championships as well as resident sports clubs of international importance (Real Madrid, Los Angeles Lakers ) contribute to the cultural reputation of a city. A special group is formed religious centers worldwide importance such as Jerusalem, Rome and Mecca. Metropolitan areas of global importance have often a high concentration of colleges, universities and research institutions.

The international presence of a metropolis is found in a high profile back, which can infer a recurring media dissemination. Awareness of a world city is also derived by the historical significance. So are the " Ancient Rome ", the " ancient Athens", or the "divided Berlin" world-famous concepts of historiography.

Definitions

Global City

In human geography the first time in 1991 coined by Saskia Sassen concept of " Global City " is often used. Here he is rather understood as a global economic center. The German term " world city ", however, is seen as a traditional political- cultural, cosmopolitan center of global significance. Both types of cities do not exclude each other out, cities are often both.

The methodology for the study of " global cities " has been developed since the early nineties by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network ( GaWC ).

Metropolis

The term metropolis is often synonymous with " world city " used, but also in relation to smaller towns who hold important key features in a given subspace or a particular industry. The concept of (Greek for " mother city " ) is thus ambiguous and is not necessarily related to the global urban system.

Million city

The above criteria must be promoted by a high number of inhabitants. Therefore, cities with more than one million inhabitants ( " megacities " ) are sometimes referred to as a lump sum world cities Older literature. This equation is no longer tenable under present circumstances. Firstly, the number of megacities rises by global population growth steadily, without thereby additional global centers would emerge - especially in developing countries arose partly huge cities without functioning infrastructure and without significant international corporate functions. On the other hand has been lost by the suburbanization of any connection between the political boundaries of a city and its actual extent, so that a serious specifying exact population figures and thus the assignment of the predicate " megacity " is hardly possible.

The former practice of giving the inhabitants within the city limits today leads to absurd results: to live in the city of Brussels, only 140,000 people, while the internationally little known Chongqing with 32 million inhabitants ( an area the size of Austria ) is the largest city in the world would be. There are even municipalities, which include more than a million inhabitants, but can not be considered even as an independent center, but only as a secondary part of a metropolitan area to an even greater city, about Yokohama ( 3.5 million inhabitants) near Tokyo or Nezahualcóyotl (2 million inhabitants) in Mexico City.

Mega city

Under a megacity refers to a city or city region with a very large population ( the threshold is usually determined at five or ten million inhabitants ). The term is a purely quantitative description without taking into account the global importance of a city. The term is even often explicitly based on the internationally little important, fast-growing cities in the "Third World ", often associated with the triggered by this enormous growth problems.

Rankings and studies

Cities are complex entities with equally complex relationships. Therefore, the definition of objective, measurable criteria metropolis, for which there are sufficient research accessible and comparable data difficult. Not least for this reason, research focused so far mainly on economic criteria, because here are objectively measurable data most readily available and comparable. The authors acknowledge because also that the world city research is still in its infancy and require both the methods and the data used considerable refinement. Therefore, the resulting rankings of the world cities have not exhaustive and can only provide information about the position of individual cities in the world city network.

GaWC 1999, 2004, 2008, 2010

The GaWC ( Globalization and World Cities Research Network ) listed in 1999 cities in economic terms according to their importance for advanced producer services, namely, accounting, advertising, banking and law firms, on. In a second study in 2004, the Institute presented a new study to define and categorize world cities new. In addition to economic policy (UN institutions, embassies, city organizations) and social criteria (NGOs, scientific publications) have now been to a limited extent cultural ( global media conglomerates, global architecture, engineering ) are considered. 2008 appeared a third list.

London and New York settle out, as they are considered some of the few cities have a diversified, many areas of life touching globality. Also, many " Global Cities " below lesser known, but this may be for a single country of central importance, such as Caracas the capital of Venezuela.

In 2010, a fourth list of cities was presented. According to her, the most important town in the German Frankfurt am Main, which was alpha to be upgraded from the Category Alpha. More significant in this sense, German -speaking cities are Munich, Vienna and Zurich, in which Munich opposite the evaluation from the year 2008 by three categories improved upward. Other climbers are Dubai and Miami and Philadelphia, which even improved by five categories. Are relegated Milan and Beijing, which slip into a lower category. As a German -speaking world cities in the following categories beta Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Stuttgart and Cologne are listed.

Global Cities Index 2010, 2012

In October 2008, the American journal Foreign Policy published headquartered in Washington, DC in collaboration with Saskia Sassen, Witold Rybczynski, and others a ranking of 60 cities worldwide leading. This is based on five different categories: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience and political engagement. 2010 and 2012 updated rankings were published.

Global City Competitiveness Index 2012

In March 2012, the Economist Intelligence Unit published, a business unit of The Economist Group, a research report on the competitiveness of the 120 largest cities in the world. The competitiveness was investigated for eight different categories: economic potential, human capital, institutional effectiveness, financial feasibility, Global attraction, Physical Capital, Social and cultural character and environment and natural hazards. The category financial feasibility reached 9 cities the highest possible score, which underlined together the first place, several first places were in the categories Physical capital ( eight cities), environment and natural hazards ( four cities ) and Institutional Effectiveness awarded (two cities).

Global Power City Index 2010, 2011

In October 2009, the Tokyo-based "Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation " a comprehensive study published to 35 cities. In six major categories 69 individual indicators were examined to classify the financial capability of the town: business, research & development, quality of life, cultural interaction, transport infrastructure and ecology / environment. 2010 and 2011 updated studies were presented.

World City Survey 2010, 2011

In March 2010, the London-based Knight Frank published in collaboration with Citibank, a study on 40 selected cities. As part of the Wealth reports four main categories were evaluated to classify the global status of each city: economic activity, political power, knowledge and influence and quality of life. 2011, the study has been updated.

Reviews Quality of Life

Mercer Quality of Living Index 2009 - 2012

The consulting firm Mercer annually compares the quality of life of 420 cities in the world and published from an approximately 220 cities comprehensive list. The index base value of 100 is the city of New York attributed City. The living conditions are based on 29 factors divided into the following categories, where:

Monocle Quality of Life Index 2010 - 12

The international news and lifestyle magazine Monocle publishes an annual list of the 25 most livable cities in the world.

Quality of life, according to Global Power City Index 2010, 2011

The Tokyo-based "Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation " has also compared the quality of life of these cities in his study of 35 world cities and erected rankings.

German -speaking

There are in the states of the Central European German-speaking several cities that have global importance and exert international influence.

Germany

In Germany have several cities on global importance and exert international influence. Within the federal structure of Germany, however, is a division of the economic, political and cultural presence with global influence observed, so that it can be considered only bounded by a cosmopolitan city in a comprehensive sense.

These three functional areas are located mainly on Berlin as the seat of government, culture and science metropolis Frankfurt as a financial center and transportation hub, Munich as an industrial and technology center and Hamburg as a major seaport and commercial city.

Cologne as a media center, Stuttgart and Dusseldorf as the seat of global corporations and the Federal City as seat of international organizations also have international links.

Austria and Switzerland

In the Republic of Austria and Switzerland, Vienna and Zurich cities with global significance and international influence. In Switzerland, Geneva is also as a financial center and home to many international organizations of particular global significance.

Luxembourg

The capital city of Luxembourg is a seat of important EU institutions rather special European importance.

Historical world cities

In earlier times there were in the German language other cities to which the holistic definition of a metropolis was true, even if the term "world" in earlier centuries to the then-known part of the same limited.

Examples of real world cities at that time were about Trier as imperial residence of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, Aachen as the residence of Charlemagne in the 7/8 Century, Prague as the seat of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and his son Wenceslas IV of the Holy Roman Empire of the 14th century, Augsburg, Bruges and Nuremberg in the 15th century, Antwerp as the richest commercial city in Europe in the 16th century, Amsterdam as also by trading wealthiest city in Europe in the 17th century, Vienna as the seat of the Habsburg emperors and imperial capital and cultural center from 1683 to 1918 or Berlin as an imperial capital and largest city at the time of continental Europe in the early 20th century.