Global Cities Essay by RightRiters

Though the effects of globalization are generally perceived as good, this blurring of boundaries also generates concern. Globalization is much more than a liberalization of trade, engendering a series of significant social effects as well. These dual effects illustrate how globalization is much more than the liberalization of trade. This paper looks at one major result of globalization the centralization of international business infrastructures such as telecommunications and finance in what Saskia Sassen has termed the "global city." Using Sassen's theoretical framework, this paper examines the factors that characterize a global city and the role these new global cities play, both within their own nation states and in international trade. These factors are then applied to analyze London as a global city. The paper then examines the social costs of globalization as manifested in the city of London. It explores how development policies geared towards creating major capitals of finance have also resulted in greater disparities of wealth, by engendering phenomena like gentrification and the transnationalization of labor. These theories are again applied to the London experience.
Finally, this paper draws on the experience of London as a global city and proposes the integration of "social development" principles put forth by Susan Fainstein, to propose better globalization policies that promote a global city's progress on the international economic stage without neglecting the needs of the marginalized members within its community.