Global Cities

In class yesterday while talking about Global Cities, I searched the term "global city" on my beloved pop culture Atlantic Cities website and came across two interesting articles. One was this one partly on the London riots and partly on the effects that class segregation can have on the urban fabric. This was one topic that was covered in class yesterday where Saskia Sassen in The Global City discussed the spatial outcomes of a global city wherein the juxtaposition of social classes is intensified. I think it is relevant to the riots and the article, especially where the author talks about the urban projects being pushed forward in his home of Toronto. 

The other thing that struck me was this chart that ranks the world's global cities. I was mildly surprised to see Sydney ranked as number 12, somewhat higher than I initially thought it would be. I suppose I had not really thought about it before, and in my mind I would have thought that Sydney was fairly small, with a population of only about 4 million, to be called a global city. In retrospect however as one of the larger cities in the asia pacific and given the quality of living among other factors, it makes sense. What does surprise me is that we ranked higher (marginally) than both Shanghai and Beijing, which I would have thought would be closer to the top of the chart.