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A central concern of media scholars has been the discursive and economic power of a small number of transnational media corporations (TNMCs). In this paper, we advance research on TNMC power through a novel empirical analysis of their global-spatial organization, reflected in their corporate global office networks. Our findings reveal both global and regional corporate strategies and, further, demonstrate how US new media firms are expanding into Chinese global media cities to penetrate this emerging media market. Our analyses provide a crucial macro-level overview of the structural power of TNMCs to consolidate control over the global network of media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the construction of a Leading Sport Nation, sports events have become an important means of city marketing and shaping city image because they can trigger a large number of inter-city connections to promote the development of cities and enhance their influence and position. Most of the existing studies focus on large-scale sports events such as the Olympic Games, but do not pay attention to the individual sports touring events which are widely distributed and held more frequently in the host city. This paper takes the Tennis World Tour, which is the most influential tournament, as the research object, combined with the method of social network analysis and chain network model, to analyze the characteristics of city connection based on Tennis World Tour. The results show that: (1) The world city network based on Tennis World Tour has a distinct hierarchy, and most of the high-level city nodes are host cities or cities where the high-level sponsors or broadcasters are located, and the high-level inter-city connections mostly occur between the core city nodes. (2) The inter-city connection caused by Tennis World Tour has event differences and regional differences, showing the core-edge structure of Europe, North America-Asia-Oceania and South America-Africa as a whole. (3) The city network has formed a number of city groups with the headquarters of the three major tennis associations and the host city of the event (especially the Grand Slam tournament) as the main core. This study puts forward an unstable urban network structure which is different from that of the Olympic Games, complements the deficiency of the existing research on the world urban network of sports events, and provides a reference for the p [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

London and New York are the leading cities in the world of corporate globalisation: their financial, professional, and creative services are at the centre of the commercial connections that constitute the world city network. The relations between the two cities are more complementary than competitive, commonly indicated by the concept of NY‐LON as a trans‐oceanic service conglomerate for facilitating economic globalisation. However, world city network analysis shows London growing its overall servicing connectivity more than New York. This change in the inter‐city relation is investigated through focus on the service connectivity and agglomeration capacities of the two cities. It is found that they share a very similar connectivity regional profile while simultaneously showing stark differences in their service agglomeration sector profiles. This is shown to be the result of London gaining the rapidly growing super‐rich servicing market. Thus while New York continues its long‐term production of financial innovations, London has grown an offshore platform for global capital specifically in the form of the world's money management centre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With so many sports becoming increasingly popular, sports have come to play an important role in promoting the process of globalization and formatting the world city network (WCN). Previous studies have constructed the WCN based on the distribution of international sport federations (ISFs) and the sites of international sport events (ISEs), but there is still a lack of systematic research on the intercity connections caused by ISEs. Taking three most recent Olympic Games as cases, this paper explores intercity connections and WCN based on ISEs. The results show that (1) the Olympic WCN has city nodes around the world except in Antarctica, and the number and activity values of the cities in host countries may increase intensively during the Olympic Games. (2) A hierarchical city system with four tiers (global central cities, specialized central cities, national central cities and specialized cities) is formed by the intercity connections caused by the Olympic Games. (3) The WCN based on the Olympic Games, is made up of many subnetworks, while many differences occur due to the diverse decisions made by the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG), host cities or even host countries in the events associated with sponsorship activity and publicity activity. This study not only broadens the relevant fields of sports culture-oriented WCN research but also explores the instability of the WCN, which makes it an effective reference for WCN research based on ISEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests the relationship between the hierarchical position of cities in the global economy and a typology of cultural, economic, political, and social external relations, namely city diplomacy. We conduct this test on a sample of 46 Chinese cities, seeking to bridge otherwise separate existing theories on the structure of the world city hierarchy and varied dimensions of city diplomacy. Contrary to expectations, we find that the aggregate of the typology of city diplomacy, rather than only the economic dimension, is most closely associated with position in the world city hierarchy. This tentatively suggests that the collective effect of internationally-oriented cultural, economic, political and social activities in Chinese cities reflect the global structure of the highest levels of globalized urban wealth.

This study tests the relationship between the hierarchical position of cities in the global economy and a typology of cultural, economic, political, and social external relations, namely city diplomacy. We conduct this test on a sample of 46 Chinese cities, seeking to bridge otherwise separate existing theories on the structure of the world city hierarchy and varied dimensions of city diplomacy. Contrary to expectations, we find that the aggregate of the typology of city diplomacy, rather than only the economic dimension, is most closely associated with position in the world city hierarchy. This tentatively suggests that the collective effect of internationally-oriented cultural, economic, political and social activities in Chinese cities reflect the global structure of the highest levels of globalized urban wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the cultural world city networks (WCNs) study by examining a Winter Olympics Games (WOGs)-based city network with the enhanced intercity connection framework that highlights the role of multiple actors and their mutual influences in formatting WCNs based on international sports events (ISEs). Drawing upon the data of six WOGs from 2002 to 2022, it reveals the variability and instability of the cultural events-based WCNs. The variable WOGs-based WCNs are characterized by the decentralization process in that host cities are non-westernized, network nodes of non-western cities increase and east Asian cities rise. While high-level city connections are relatively stable, low-level city connections are subject to changing. The changing structure of WOGs-based city networks is shaped by the mutual influences of multiple actors including organizing committees, sports federations, corporations and TV medias. They interact in the way that one actor promotes the involvement of other actors in the network formation with the interaction conditioned by the factors of economic development, governmental interventions, geographical constraints, and cultural differences, the promotional influence of actors and the complexity of impact mechanisms has led to the emergence of an unstable network structure. The paper enriches the understanding of diverse WCNs by highlighting the decentralized dynamics in ISEs-based WCNs and the role of the mutual influences between multiple actors in the network evolution. • Propose an improved framework for intercity connections caused by International Sports Events • Identify an enhanced, unstable city network structure with hierarchical differences in connections' stability. • Highlight the role of mutual influences between different actors in formatting world city network based on Olympic Games. • Investigate the complex evolution mechanism of event-based world city networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the well-known dependence of vertex and network structural parameters on network boundary specification employed by researchers, there has so far been effectively no discussion of this methodological caveat in the global and world city literature. Given the reliance of empirical studies of urban networks on the sampling of underlying actors that form these networks by their interactions, we consider it of key importance to examine the dependence of network centralities of cities on network boundary specification. We consider three distinctive modelling approaches based on: (a) office networks, (b) ownership ties and (c) inter-organisational projects. Our results indicate that city network centralities obtained from sampled networks are highly consistent with those obtained from whole network analysis for samples featuring as little as 4% (office networks), 10% (ownership ties) and 25% (inter-organisational projects) of the underlying actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we provide a detailed geographical analysis of the role of the New York-London (NYLON) connection in the world city network. We find that its pre-eminence is much greater and much more diverse than previously considered. Our analysis draws on a data collection of the worldwide office networks of producer services firms across cities in 2018, and applies a purposeful combination of principal components analysis and network analysis to identify the relative importance of city-dyads in different regional geographies of globalization. We review the role of NYLON in the the different city sub-nets thus identified, and provide a more focused discussion of NYLON's role in the production of three of these. In a short conclusion, we consider the meaning of our results for the broader literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we attempt to understand the new world geography through its cities by treating corporate globalization from the perspective of cities insofar as they are central to the global networks that make large-scale economic processes possible. To this end, we draw on a conceptual and empirical extension of world city network research to describe the major globalization phases that have been shaping the twenty-first century. After situating our world city network research in the much broader field of research on globalizing cities, we retell the narrative of the extensive, intensive, and Chinese globalization phases as reflected in the office networks of 175 of the world's largest producer services firms across 707 cities. A purposeful combination of connectivity and multivariate analysis is used to reveal cumulative, interacting, overlapping, and unfolding geographies of global economic patterns. We argue that these three key globalizations are shaping the global context of economic processes in the twenty-first century and describe the urban geography of each of these globalizations to understand their broader meanings within today's global economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional differentiation between cities and the characteristics of their inter-urban networks in the emerging knowledge-intensive service economy have attracted extensive attention in urban studies. However, research on urban networks generated by advanced producer services (APS) activities has focused either on the structures of the networks in general or on the patterns created by various service sectors. In comparison, whether advanced services originating from different regions might generate different inter-city networks is less well studied. Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative methods, this paper explores how APS firms with headquarters in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), in mainland China or overseas impact the internal urban system and the external relations of the PRD through their business networks. The findings indicate that while cities in the PRD are connected with each other and with other Chinese cities primarily through the business networks of local and national APS firms, the region’s linkages with overseas services centres are shaped predominantly by major international firms from the developed world. The variegated service geographies created by different types of APS firms within and outside China not only reflect the firms’ different development histories, client orientations in specific markets and home regions’ economic conditions, but they are also significantly shaped by China’s unique regulatory environment and complex state–market relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the backdrop of the sizable economic growth of China in recent years, this paper uses the most recent data gathering of the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research network to update and supplement earlier research on the shifting global connectivity of Chinese cities. The update consists of an evaluation of the connectivity of Chinese cities in 2016, the supplement of an analysis of the changing position of Chinese cities in the world city network between 2010 and 2016. To this end, we build on a specification of the world city network as an 'interlocking network' in which producer services firms play the crucial role in city network formation. Information about the presence of leading producer services firms in cities in 2010 and 2016 is used as the input to a bipartite network projection algorithm in order to measure cities' network connectivity. The first set of results discusses the geographies of urban connectivity in the world city network in 2016. The second set of results discusses standardized measures of change to reveal the major dimensions of the transformations between 2010 and 2016. We find that, with the exception of Hong Kong, Macau and Kaohsiung of Taiwan, all Chinese cities record connectivity gains. This wholesale rise in connectivity is nonetheless geographically uneven, with above all Beijing, Chengdu/Chongqing and Changsha/Wuhan becoming more connected. We conclude that the wholesale rise of Chinese cities in the world city network and their changing trajectories in the post-crisis era are embedded in shifting external and internal political economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth of the knowledge economy has led to new forms of business networks linking cities and towns across different spatial scales. Various attempts have been made to analyse these networks empirically using the interlocking network model of the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research network. Two approaches can be distinguished from a spatial perspective: a global ‘top-down’ approach that studies the world city network from the perspective of the largest advanced producer service firms, and a macro-regional ‘bottom-up’ approach that starts with the most important knowledge-intensive firms located within specific territorial boundaries. This paper compares and critically assesses the methodological implications and empirical outcomes of both approaches with reference to case studies of the German space economy. Both approaches pursue similar objectives: to investigate external relations of cities, both transnationally and on the national scale. Differences exist in the theoretical argumentation: the top-down approach is grounded in world city research; the bottom-up approach is anchored in debates in regional science and economic geography. In this paper, we argue for the need of scale-sensitive interpretations of connectivity patterns resulting from different approaches to the interlocking network model and conclude with some tentative recommendations for the methodological direction of future research in world city network studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changing geography of service employment and the relocation of back-office service tasks to developing economies present a challenge to contemporary world city network research and methodology, as cost-driven offshoring may wrongly suggest a city’s increased importance in global city rankings. In particular, financial service firms, but also management consultancies, law firms, and other advanced producer service firms have offshored tasks abroad. These firms’ offices are attributed a vital role in the world city network literature and form the basis for world city rankings using the interlocking network model. Based on empirical research on advanced producer service firms in Metro Manila, the Philippines, this paper argues that the existence of linkages and the appearance ‘on the map’ of dominant economic flows does not automatically lead to an increased command and control position of Manila. Instead, the attraction of lower-end services leads to Manila’s dependent articulation into global service production networks. The findings challenge the key assumptions about ‘command functions’ and ‘strategic role’ of global cities that underpin the global city rankings. The paper critiques current conceptualisations of command and control in global urban network theory in the light of changing intra-firm divisions of labour in advanced producer service firms, and stresses the importance of qualitative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Logistics services providers present similarities with main advanced producer services as, besides their operational functions, they manage highly elaborated informational flows in order to run supply chains. Thanks to detailed information on employees provided by the social network LinkedIn, this paper proposes a World City Network analysis applied to main logistics providers operating in Italy, that focus only on knowledge and management activities. LinkedIn also allows decomposing firms' value chains and permits to develop interlocking networks dedicated to firms divisions. Italian advanced logistics appears to be primarily attracted by knowledge rich environments, rather than infrastructural nodes. The Italian network is centralised in Milan. Though, rather than an exclusive command centre, Milan acts as a hub, where part of the information and power are distributed in certain secondary cities, depending on their sectorial and geographical specificities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the globalization trend is proliferating at a staggering rate, world cities have emerged as the most dominant vanguard incorporated into global economy. Control and command function is one of the robust integral parts of world city formation, which is closely associated with the corporate headquarter status of some dominant multinational companies. Previous research works on this topic tend to concentrate on the Western Europe and North American arenas neglecting the Asia- Pacific region. Hence, the objective of this paper is to explore control and command functions of Asia-Pacific cities with reference to headquarters' locations of multinational companies. The methodology will utilize the Forbes global 2000 dataset from the seminal study of GaWC research group, and apply the control and command center model and the interlocking city network model to discover the control and command index, as well as network connectivity of Asia-Pacific cities. Based upon the empirical study of this research, we could identify the hierarchical structure and spatial structure of Asia-Pacific world cities to emerge as some control and command centers embedded in world city network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds upon world city network studies using the interlocking network model to introduce an additional way of measuring inter-city connectivity. Using firms' service values for cities to indicate directions of potential workflows, a new measure of asymmetric network connectivity is specified to include uneven power relations in the analysis. This is then employed in analyses of the latest service values matrix (175 firms × 526 cities) for 2013. Two types of analyses are performed. First, the aggregate measures of asymmetric network connectivity are computed and compared to the conventional measure of global network connectivity. Results show an accentuation of the hierarchical tendencies in the world city network. Second, the asymmetric connectivity is disaggregated into its three components - dominant, equivalence and subordinate - to produce a set of further measures. Results tend to distinguish dominant ‘global places’, often financial centres, from places where firms ‘have to be’, largely capital cities of medium-sized states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Este estudio muestra cómo los principales bancos en operación en Brasil, durante el 2003, aplican las dos prácticas de la globalízación -concentración y dispersión- en el ambiente urbano brasileño. Cuatro estrategias globales de localízación de estos bancos y dos domésticas fueron identificadas. Las seis estrategias resultan de la aplicación de uno de los métodos de análisis multivariado, el análisis de componentes principales, en una matriz compuesta por 54 ciudades y 31 bancos. Consideradas las funciones de la ciudad mundial, se adoptó el concepto de gateway city, de Alan Pred, para interpretar las respectivas estrategias. La hinterland de la ciudad mundial fue entendida como sus enlaces funcionales con otras ciudades del país, creados en la economía global por los productores de servicios con alto valor agregado, ubicados en la ciudad mundial. Los resultados revelan que San Pablo articula las economías nacional y global como gateway city y que Curitiba emerge como una alternativa a San Pablo en esta función. Además, muestran que la producción en ventas de importantes ciudades de la red urbana brasileña poco contribuye para el desempeño de estas urbes en el contexto globafizado de los bancosThis exploratory study shows how the major hanks operating in Brazil in 2003 apply the two global practices - concentration and dispersion - in the Brazilian urban environment. Four global and two domestic location strategies of those banks were identified. The strategies were found employing the multivariate method of principal component analysis in a matrix of 54 cities versus 31 banks. In the light of world city functions, the gateway city concept as defined by Alan Pred was the basis for interpreting the six bank location strategies. The hinterland of a world city was understood as its functional links to other cities in the country, created in the global economy by advanced producer services in the world city. According to the results, the city of Sao Paulo articulates the national and the global economies as the main gateway city in Brazil. Additionally, they point to Curitiba as an alternative Brazilian gateway city. The results also show that high-accumulated sales in a city contribute only slightly to the city performance in global banking circles

This article presents a large-scale analysis of the trajectories of individual cities and regions in the world city network between 2000 and 2012. The methodology used to examine cities' evolving network centralities is based on advanced producer services firms “interlocking” cities through their worldwide distribution of offices. We do not limit our analysis to a limited set of putative world cities, but incorporate 157 cities from all world regions into this global urban analysis. Absolute and relative measures of change are developed to reveal the major dimensions of change. The most notable finding is that significant connectivity gains have been limited to a small set of cities (Dubai, Shanghai, Beijing, and Moscow in particular) in the face of persisting core–periphery patterns at the level of the global economy, with New York and London remaining firmly at the apex. At the same time, overall levels of connectivity in the world city network have clearly risen, suggesting an increasingly integrated network. In geographical terms, a west-to-east shift is discernible, albeit uneven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A substantiated definition of smart cities is urgently required. In this note, we explore the crossover between smart city and world city network literature. We argue that this crossover can contribute to the theoretical and empirical development of smart city literature. The results show that indeed, besides territorial measures, network measures, e.g. indegree and inward distance, are important in explaining the smartness of cities. Based on this, we recommend that smart cities include city network characteristics in future planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we tackle a fundamental and long-time challenge in urban geography, to uncover a functionally differentiated global city network. To this day, the empirical investigation of a global multifunctional city network remains a challenge given the scarcity of appropriate relational and multifunctional data sources. To overcome this research gap, we present an interdisciplinary network modelling approach that integrates methods from geographic information science with social network analysis, including automated semantic analyses.We apply our modelling framework to a globally available, user-generated database (ie, Wikipedia), still underutilized in urban geography and planning research. The proposed visual analytical investigation of the multifunctional world city network also includes a systematic evaluation to assess the robustness of the proposed approach, and the adequacy of crowd-sourced databases for scientific uses. By example, we discuss economical and political relations of a latent multifunctional global city network which we uncovered with our data-driven approach. Our results not only empirically replicate previously well-established world city network theory, but also generate new research questions about multiple functions of cities, as hypothesized in world city network research. Furthermore, we showcase the potential of coupling text-based user-generated data analysis with geovisual analytics for scientific investigations in urban studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper has two purposes: (i) to outline a methodology for systematically measuring economic relations between the world’s major cities and (ii) to provide a general assessment of the position of Belgium’s major cities in this global urban network. In the first section, we stress that research on Brussels and Antwerp under conditions of contemporary globalization lacks a systematic account of their global relational patterns, a knowledge lacuna that can at least partly be traced back to the dearth of suitable data. In a second section, we outline the methodology for measuring the networked context of the world’s major cities. In a third section, we provide a systematic overview of Antwerp’s and Brussels’ position in this global urban network. Apart from the rather common sensical observation that Brussels is more strongly connected than Antwerp, it is also shown that Brussels’ «global» relations contrast with Antwerp’s more intense «local» relations. In relative terms, Brussels is strongly connected to East Asia and North America, while the most thorough links of Antwerp are exclusively with nearby European (especially German) cities.

Networks have become ubiquitous in the analysis of socioeconomic patterns. Importantly, most of these networks have an inherent geographical dimension, and are therefore a relevant object for geographical research and related thinking on cartographic mapping and visualization. The visualization of spatial networks is, however, still in its infancy. In this paper, we present and discuss some of the typical issues associated with the visualization of spatial networks, as well as the emerging possibilities to tackle these issues. In particular, we focus on a state-of-the-art graph layout algorithm that uses edge bundling on network layers in conventional maps. We use the example of the geographies of the world city network in 2013 as researched by the Globalization and World Cities network (GaWC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the level of integration of Singapore, a global city, among leading subnets in the world city network. In particular, economic aspects of globalization in Singapore as a Pacific Asian city are examined. Within this general framework, the article pursues three specific aims. The first is to provide a comprehensive review of the literature and views of scholars on globalization and the world cities network. Taylor and Sassen's theories are the main literature chosen to review, which seems to be widely interlinked. The second aim is to apply the data collected from literature in the first section on Singapore in order to examine its position in the network of global cities. The third and the final aim is to conclude the study by creating a particular framework on how to evaluate the level of integration of a global city within the world cities network with respect to specific dimension. In addition, the paper reflects on two debates: one on the nature of comparative analysis; the other, a critical debate on the normative nature of rankings and charts for examining it. The results of this article would help policy-makers and planners who are focused on economic aspects on a national and international level to derive normative ideas so they may implement policies and strategies for economic development of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper begins with an introduction into the interlocking network model (INM) initially specified by Peter Taylor in the context of the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research network. For that purpose, the intellectual background, purpose, key principles and subsequent applications of the INM are presented. Since the overall purpose of the Special Issue is to take research inspired by the INM further, this paper gives, second, an overview of some of the main critiques raised against the INM. Third, the relevance of the different papers of the Special Issue is framed within these critiques. The papers in the Special Issue can be divided in two groups: while the first set discusses the measurement framework, the second focuses on the conceptual remit of the INM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines essential concepts of the political economy approach of urban research and offers critical modifications and clarifications to some of its contentions concerning the functioning of cities as 'strategic places' of capital accumulation. The interrelations between contemporary capitalism and urban economic development are discussed at the scale of a transnationally extended urban system. Based on the general context of the global economic downturn, I focus on the role of cities in distinct circuits of capital, the switching of capital flows within the urban system and the different functional roles of cities within the world city network that interconnects cities both in the global North and South. I call into question the established focus of urban economic research on the role of cities as financial and service centres, arguing that cities might redirect their economic development trajectories towards 'real economy' activities, in contrast to relying on the disastrous development model of finance-dominated capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sassen's identification of global cities as 'strategic places' is explored through world city network analysis. This involves searching out advanced producer service ( APS) firms that constitute 'strategic networks,' from whose activities strategic places can be defined. Twenty-five out of 175 APS firms are found to be strategic, and from their office networks, 45 cities out of 526 are designated as strategic places. A measure of 'strategicness' of cities is devised, and individual findings from this are discussed by drawing on existing literature about how APS firms use specific cities. A key finding shows that New York and London have different levels of strategicness, and this is related to the former's innovation prowess and the latter's role in global consumption of services. Other cases of strategicness discussed in terms of the balance between production and consumption of APSs are Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai; Palo Alto; Mexico City; Johannesburg; and Dubai and Frankfurt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current debate on the world city network and inter-city connectivity, a large number of cities, particularly in developing countries, have received limited attention. Despite a growing interest in emerging market cities, many scholars still focus on the more affluent parts of the global economy. In an attempt to redress this imbalance, I present an assessment for use on cities that are not at the centre of the network; but what we consider 'end nodes'. I build my argument on Taylor's interlocking model for assessing city connectivity and zoom in on the types of networks that non-hub cities create through their inter-linkages with so-called peer cities in the same economic sector. I take these ego networks as a starting point and then lead the argument on to view city networks from a non-hub perspective. This allows me to identify the existing linkages between different peer cities within as well as between selected city networks. The renewable energy business in India puts this argument to an empirical test. My findings confirm that this way of looking at city connectivity allows one to assess specifically for city end nodes and thereby contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the world city network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I concentrate on a macro-level analysis of inter-urban linkages in a 'world city network'. Empirical research on the formation of a world city network has mostly concentrated on global service providers. Yet, globally operating manufacturing firms also choose distinct urban regions throughout the world as locational anchoring points. In this article, using social network analysis, I present the first global-scale analysis of how manufacturing firms connected cities across the world (in 2010). To detect the differing 'sectoral profiles' and nodal centralities of cities functioning as geographical hubs of transnational production networks, it is necessary to analyse the network structure of distinct industrial subsectors within the global urban system. The data collected for analysis cover 120 top global firms from three manufacturing subsectors, of which two are analysed in more detail than the third. I then compare the nodal centralities of cities included in these subsectors' global networks with the GaWC research on the producer services sector that has been at the centre of previous analyses of the world city network. The comparison reveals the cities' differing positioning within 'multiple globalizations'. The aim of the article is to extend research on world city networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a new perspective on city connectivity in order to analyze non-hub cities and their position in the world economy. The author revisits the different approaches discussed in the Global Commodity Chains (GCC), Global Production Networks (GPN) and World City Network (WCN) discourses and argues that synergies can be found if the WCN’s firm-level argument is merged with the GCC and GPN’s call for geographic embeddedness. This article lays out that a new bottom-up approach in the field of city network analysis can help investigating non-hub cities, taking a city’s local economy and its ego-network as a starting point. Sudan’s capital Khartoum serves as a test case and confirms that this approach leads to interesting findings. While Khartoum would score one of the lowest rankings in ‘classic’ connectivity audits, using a city’s ego-network offers an alternative assessment that provides a better understanding Khartoum’s status in the global petroleum industry. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper provides a brief critical appraisal of the relationality of German cities in the world city network. The paper is divided into four parts. After the introduction, part two highlights the major findings of each individual contribution to this special issue, and teases out the major patterns of German world city connectivity at both the international and domestic scale. This is followed in part three by a critical evaluation of the sum of all the individual paper findings, which comments on their aggregated contribution to three significant themes in world city studies: methods and empirics, theory and policy. The final part of the paper considers an alternative research agenda, calling for more qualitative research and engagement with in-depth, process-based studies of German world city networks, which will analyse both attributive and relational data.

On a regional scale, two types of polycentricity can be observed. The first involves polycentric metropolitan regions that have evolved in the course of post-suburban development around a previously monocentric city, whereas the second type involves neighbouring metropolises evolving into a multi-core polycentric metropolitan region due to an increase in the functional interaction between each other. The German urban system is characterised by both types of polycentricity. In this paper I examine the role of these two types of polycentricity within the context of globalisation. I address the question of whether individual metropolitan cores and metropolitan cores and their associated post-suburban areas share the global functions of a metropolitan region or whether such functions are concentrated in a single city within the metropolitan region. To this end, I analyse the locations of leading global advanced producer service firms in Germany in their role as sub-nodes of the world city network. Finally, I discuss the empirical findings in the context of modelling the world city network.

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