Flows and Scapes - forms and modes of processes in global politics Global Politics

Looking at the core of Castells' Arguement ● Space organizes time in a network society ● The concept of space and time are changing – the effect of information technology and social change affected by history ● Space of flows vs. space of logic

The Role of the Global City ● The global city is “not a place but a process;” the city becomes a process as in the sense that production and consumption of services is connected by global networks ● This statement is significant: the flow of information is eroding national boundaries, physical location as a source of power is only so strong, ie shifts in global city trends ● Advanced services are the core of economic processes – all which reduce to knowledge and information flows ● Global cities give rise to regional centers and that cannot limit global city eminence to only a few select cities

Global Cities and Interdependence ● The concept of valuable space in the city changed with suburbanization; new centers increase interdependence as the process links services, production, and markets to a global network ● Territories play a subordinate role – regional centers however have restructured the global economy; regions/ localities do not disappear but rather become integrated into international networks

Why is the urban space still important? ● Cities are information-based and valubable to the center of production – firms can locate a skilled labor force and materials in the metropolitan areas ● Flexibility is key – accessing material/ labor is important ● Property is a valuable asset in the company and persoanl contact is still crucial to business

The Industrial Space ● Technology has enabled to divide the production process among various localities, while still allowing for the fabrication of a final product – This creates specialization – The labor force is primarily not affected by such high-level manufacturing: unskilled laborers are still the bulk of employment – “Off-shore” employment has increased global competition – The most important information-technology centers are new – capital, labor, and raw materials aid the development

Industrial Space Cont. ● Innovation is the basis of establishing structure – this will attract firms, capital, and labor ● Established innovations compete and cooperate between regions – this gives rise to global networks ● The industrial space is constantly changing

Technology and the City ● Cities viod of their functional activities – work, entertainment, etc – will cease to exist with the onset of new technolgy – This theory seems improbable as the statistics of teleworking illustrates the importantce of the city as a place. It is not the “end of the office,” but a diversification job opportunity that enhances population mobility. – The commute will only get worse

Informational City ● The business center is the core of the city, linked by global networks ● Suburban areas reinforce the interdependence of different units among the system ● Suburban sprawl is unique to American culture. American cities present a differnet look to the informational city ● European cities are shaped by history and have agriculture development in the suburbs ● “Megacities articulate the global economy”

Megacities ● Megacities are globally connected and locally disconnected – in both physical and social aspects. Castells argues this as the new urban form – They concentrate world power, but they employ a survival of the fittest mentality. Megacities link the population globally while dissolving social goups in city populations at the same time

Space and society ● Society is dependent on the metropolitan system ● Spacial flows – 1 st layer: made up of electronic impulses – 2 nd layer: nodes and hubs – a network links places – 3 rd layer: spacial organization of the dominate elites – those that exercise power and functions – The space of flows is blurring the relationship between society and architecture (a sense of eroding culture)

Does the space of flows eliminate our definition of 'place?' ● A place is defined in terms of specific physical boudaries that contain self-operating functions and forms ● Does globalization erode local identity? ● Castells argues that the space of flows has altered the conception of a place – structural schizophrenia?