Other scholars reduce the main criterion to define global cities to their significance in the global economy. It helps us to understand what happens in the major global cities of the world economy and what much political conflict in these cities is about.” 4 Although focusing on economic criteria in the first hypothesis, he follows it with the hypothesis concerning social and demographic characteristics. In 1986, another urban planner, John Friedmann, presents the “World City Hypothesis”, which is all “about the spatial organization of the new international division of labor. Whereas Hall still stresses the cosmo political character as a central feature of world cities, the more recent approaches focus mainly on globally important economic features. Global City Versus Megacity – Some Theoretical Remarksģ The end of the 1980s marks the beginning of a broader discussion about the question of what a global city is and how it should be characterized. Due to the high degree of fragmentation in the urban structure, we must apply more comprehensive concepts to describe the city of São Paulo. However, scholars do not necessarily agree, especially with regard to the classification of São Paulo as a global city. By analyzing the position of São Paulo in the worldwide city network with the help of demographic and economic indicators, we can find evidence for its being both a megacity and a global city. Obviously, demographic and economic developments have correlated for a long time. Although the question of how to classify São Paulo depends on current indicators, a brief look at the (economic) history of the city will help us understand its present state. 1 However, if we look at the city from an international viewpoint, will the classification be the same? In order to answer this question, we will first consider the two terms “global city” and “megacity”, the first of which has strong economic connotations, whereas the latter is mainly defined by population size. Economically speaking, being responsible for 12% of the national Brazilian GDP and double the GDP per capita of Brazil, it is the leading national metropolis. 1 São Paulo is the biggest city in Brazil and, with its metropolitan region, one of the largest agglomerations worldwide.
0 kommentar(er)
