Global city
Also called: World city · Topic: Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary Activities · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A global city, also called a world city, is a city that acts as a command centre of the world economy. It controls money and decisions through finance, company headquarters, law firms and media. Saskia Sassen made the idea popular in 1991. Global cities show why knowledge work gathers in a few places, even though in theory it could be done anywhere. Such work needs face-to-face contact, large pools of talent and good connectivity.
Example
London in the United Kingdom is a classic global city, along with New York and Tokyo. Banks, stock markets, company headquarters and major law firms there take decisions that affect the whole world. In India, Mumbai is the country's financial hub.
Don't confuse with
- Megacity: a megacity is defined by its huge population. A global city is defined by its control over the world economy, so a very large city need not be a global city.
Related concepts
- Quaternary activities
- Quinary activities
- Gold-collar workers
- Grey-collar workers
- Pink-collar workers