THINKING ABOUT WORLD CITIES The Making of a World City – Policy & Governance Challenges for Policy Makers Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly & Leo Siu University of Victoria, B.C., Canada, ebrunetj@uvic.ca

The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges Why Ask The Question? Are we looking for an ideal? “The City here, complete” Thom Gunn (1961) “A Map of the City” in My Sad Captains and Other Poems, an allegory to the ideal city. And, we are warned “There is no shortage of people with bold ideas of what would constitute the perfect city…the results have been mixed. Plans for what would be the perfect city today are often invalidated by the changing imperatives of tomorrow. No one thing, but only the nurturing of diversity serves best.” (J. Reader, 2004 p. 294) And, Jane Jacobs (1961) in The Death and Life of Great American Cities argues only people, that is dense, mixed use neighborhoods, give life to cities, suggesting that cities grow inside – out, and not just by governmental prescription.

There is a vast literature on the issue of “World Cities.” The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges Why Ask The Question? Hence, when asking the question … engaging the communities of Hong Kong (NY, London) may be an important initiative. Other cities, such as London (UK) and Tokyo (Japan) or Paris(France) link policy decisions to these questions (Sassen, 1998, Jouve and Lefebvre, 2003, 2004.) There is a vast literature on the issue of “World Cities.” Beyond the seminal works of Patrick Geddes (1915), Peter Hall (1961), Manuel Castel (1996) and Saskia Sassen (1991) hundreds of papers and several books have been published on world/global/mega/metro cities. Google has 2,200,000 entrees with “World City”! What do we learn from the literature on “World Cities”?

The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges What do we learn from the literature on “World Cities”? What is a ‘World City’? ‘Word Cities’ (1915) - Patrick Geddes described areas in Europe where business activities are conducted. ‘Global Cities’ (1991) - Saskia Sassen observed world cities are connected with other major urban areas though telecommunication and information technologies. ‘Globalizing Cities’ (2000) - Peter Marcuse and Robert van Kempen argued other smaller-size cities also possessed the characteristics of global cities suggested by Sassen. ‘Leading World Cities’ (2005) - Peter Taylor introduced leading world cities to provide a neutral position between the different terms used to describe the concept of world cities.

Transportation and Telecommunication Networks The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges What do we learn from the literature on “World Cities”? * Physical attributes of World Cities Themes World City Attributes Commercial and Financial Sector Advanced Producer Services (APS) International Financial Centre Multinational Headquarters Transportation and Telecommunication Networks Airline Networks Freight Networks Telecommunication Networks Migration Skilled Labour Unskilled Labour Tourism

The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges What do we learn from the literature on “World Cities”? Attribute One - Commercial and Financial Sector The three components that characterize this attribute are: Advanced Producer Services (APS) International Financial Centre Multinational Headquarters Advanced Producer Services (APS) were proposed by Beaverstock et al.,(1996, 1999). These are financial and commercial services that are intended for corporations. APSs are major knowledge activities associated with the world economy. APSs include: accountancy, advertising, banking and legal services. International Financial Centres were pioneered by Reed (1981) and further developed by Saskia Sassen (1999). International Financial Centres are major urban concentrations of financial services that facilitates international financial transactions.

The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges What do we learn from the literature on “World Cities”? Attributes One - Commercial and Financial Sector Multinational Headquarters were explored by Cohen (1981) and Anderson and Beckfield (2004). Multinational corporations locate headquarters in world cities to access advanced producer services. Each of these authors designed hierarchies or classifications of world cities on the basis of some of these characteristics. For instance: Beaverstock at al. (1999) produced a roster of 55 world cities based on advanced producer services (APS). These cities were classified into three levels: alpha, beta, and gamma. Alpha describes cities with the highest concentration of APS. There are 10 Alpha cities, which included London, Paris, New York, and Tokyo, Chicago, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Milan, Singapore

The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges What do we learn from the literature on “World Cities”? Attribute 2 - Transportation &Telecommunication Networks The three components that characterize this theme are: Airline Networks, Freight Networks, Telecommunication Networks Airline Networks - Witlox et al. (2004) map a global network economy based on the global passenger flow across major city airports. London ranks first with 30 to 32 million airline passenger flow in 2001. Freight Networks - Rimmer (1998) argues there’s a relationship between freight network traffic and world cities. See also Dreudder et al., 2007. Telecommunication Networks – Moss (1987, 1991) observes office buildings in major urban centers that require technology equipments to connect to international telecommunication networks.

The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges What do we learn from the literature on “World Cities”? Attribute 3 - Migration The three components that characterize this theme are: Skilled Labour, Unskilled Labour, Tourism Skilled Labour - Sassen (1998) and Mahroum (2001) underscore that World Cities required highly/ skilled labour to support advanced producer services. Unskilled Labour - Sassen (1991) and Friedmann (1986) argue that skilled workers need services, such as restaurants and hotels, which requires unskilled labour. Tourism - Friedmann and Wolf (1982), Abrahamson (2004), the Euromonitor, and the Government Office of London, all, measure world cities attraction to tourists for business, cultural and other reasons monuments, attractions, and culture.

The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges What do we learn from the literature on “World Cities”? Functional Features of World Cities Themes World City Attributes Social Polarization Income Disparity Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Quality of Life Sustainable? Environmentally Sustainable Energy Sustainability

The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges What do we learn from the literature on “World Cities”? Functional Features f World Cities : Social Polarization The three components that characterize this theme are: Income disparity, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Quality of Life Income disparity - Friedmannn (1986) and Sassen (2001) identify spatial and class polarization within world cities. GDP of world cities (2007 UK Economic Report): World Cities produce the lion’s share of GDP for their nation and the world’s top 30 cities ranked by GDP produced 16% of the total world GDP. Quality of Life was examined by the Corporation of London (2005), and Mercer Consulting Group (2007). These groups have used various methodologies and variables in determining Quality of Life.

The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges What do we learn from the literature on “World Cities”? Functional Featuresof World Cities: Sustainable? The two components that characterize this theme are: Environmentally Sustainable? Energy Sustainability? Environmentally Sustainable? – Kiel (1995), Liddle and Moavenzah, (2002) and Satterthwaite (1997) underline that population concentration and growth raise environmental challenges for cities. Energy Sustainability ?- Newman and Kenworthy (1999), Dittmar (1985), and Alberti and Susskind (1996) urged city planners to adopt environmental sustainability practices on areas such as transportation, water management, and energy usage

Four research themes emerge : The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges What do we learn from the literature on “World Cities”? Four research themes emerge : Questions about (Globalization) i.e. Relationality Questions about Connectivity Questions about Migrations and Demographic Flows Questions about Sustainability

World City concept localizes globalization but has multiple meanings : The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenge ? Comments & Policy Consideration For Hong Kong? World City concept localizes globalization but has multiple meanings : Indicator mania – Attributes versus Features Unstable measures – Static versus Dynamic Geo-economic bias – Power failure? Is a World City status - only - a function of corporate decisions rather than government choice? Overlooks the “in-between city” where most people live in – i.e. the suburbs/peripheries.

Who wants Hong Kong to be a World City? The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenge ? Comments & Policy Consideration For Hong Kong? Is the World City framework a useful way to think about Hong Kong’s (NY – London’s) futures? Value Conflicts – where are conflicts accounted for? Power Shifts – where are power shifts assessed? Discourse and Rhetoric – what is said / what happens on the ground Who wants Hong Kong to be a World City? Does Hong Kong’s Civic Culture support this aspiration? Is it worth it? What are the value trade-offs? Would path dependency prevail?

Is the City-Region concept more useful/appropriate? The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenge ? Comments & Policy Consideration For Hong Kong? Is the City-Region concept more useful/appropriate? i.e.: Not World City Networks (or rosters or hierarchies) but a series of regional city-based communities Not about counting attributes and features! Brings in small/non-metro communities in relation to Honk Kong (and other World Cities) Fits political needs/incentives Cities grow inside out (J. Jacobs) Raises questions about the governance of complex communities

The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenge The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenge ? Comments & Policy Consideration For Hong Kong? Economic restructuring -Cross Border Economic Integration Global economy gives economic regions a new central role (Ohmae, 1990, 1995a, 1995b, Chen 2005) Economic regions challenge world borders (Ohmae) Economic regions “bend” borders (Chen) Government-like institutions develop across borders spanning economic regions (Ohmae) Decentralization empowers local governments (Chen) Urban political economy suggests cities evolve from a multitude of points of convergence of large economic and social relations that make the wealth of nations (Jacobs, 1962) Yet - Local governmental institutions / functions – do not- overlap with the needs of their regional economies mismatch of variable geometry between economic spaces, and, political and institutional spaces (Sancton 1995)

The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenge The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenge ? Comments & Policy Consideration For Hong Kong? Economic restructuring -Cross Border Economic Integration Since 1970s – “Spaces of Places” versus “Spaces of Flows” (Castells) New Industries – New Spatial Logics – New labor and functional logics that are reciprocally exclusive and polarize skills Social disparity results from an increasing variable geometry of economic spaces, increasing the social dislocation of metropolitan regions (Castells, 1999, Reich, 1995). Implications for Hong Kong and the Pan River Delta? See Yeung & Jianfa (eds.) “The Pan Pearl River Delta – An Emerging Regional Economy in a Globalizing China” (2008).

Four central research themes emerge from this literature: The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenges Conclusions & Policy Consideration For Hong Kong? Four central research themes emerge from this literature: Questions about (Globalization) i.e. Globalization and Relationality: Cities as business locations and as functional spaces. Regional Spaces: World Cities and their Regions – From Central to Polycentric Mega City Regions: World Cities, their regions and their communities. Questions about Connectivity: Land, Sea, Air and Electronic Transportation Hubs and Networks Questions about Demographic Flows and Polarization: Demographic Changes, Migration Flows and Complex Civic Cultures Questions about Sustainability: “Do We Tread too Heavily?” Energy and Environmental Challenges Discuss these questions in through looking at five discrete areas – the first three that have to do with physical or the tangible, the last two that have to do with the social, environmental effects of world cities

Thank you for your kind attention - Questions and comments ? The Making of a World City - Policy & Governance Challenge ? Conclusions & Policy Consideration For Hong Kong? Thank you for your kind attention - Questions and comments ? Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly University of Victoria, BC, Canada ebrunetj@uvic.ca