Circuits/Toronto

MPPA-DL 452Session 3

Course Themes

• Dynamics: Globalization, Urbanization• Circuits: Transnationals, Diasporas• Centers: Agglomeration, Sprawl• Margins: New Inequalities• Ecologies: Sustainability• Architectures: A Sense of Place• Crises: Globalization in Reverse• Frontiers: Looking Ahead

1. Transnationals2. Diasporas3. Toronto

“The world economy is no longer defined by the imperial reach of a Rome, a Venice, or even a London, but by a linked set of markets and production units organized and controlled by transnational capital.”Friedmann and Wolff, “World City Formation”

From Fordism to post-Fordism?

• 1900-1970• Economies of scale • Time and motion

study (Taylor)• Mass production

(Ford)• Model “T”• Vertical integration• Mass consumption

• 1970-present• Economies of scope• Vertical

disintegration• Flexible production• Third Italy• Japanese

management• Product

differentiation• Brands

terms:- global circuits- centers- margins

World city network

Source: World City Network: A New Metageography?, Beaverstock, Smith and Taylor (2000)

Core

Semi-periphery

World periphery

Worldwide flows of digital information, 2004

Source: International Internet bandwidth, accessed at Telegeography (www.telegeography.com)

Worldwide passenger flows, 2001

Source: Witlox, Vereecken and Derudder, “Mapping the Global Network Economy on the Basis of Air Passenger Transport Flows”, GaWC Research Bulletin 157, accessed at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb157.html

Top 10 largest city relations, 2001

RankBetween And Number of

passengers

1 Hong Kong Taipei 2 138 608

2 London New York 1 610 404

3 Melbourne Sydney 1 563 106

4 Los Angeles New York 1 534 285

5 Milan Rome 1 534 156

6 Cape Town Johannesburg 1 406 897

7 Amsterdam London 1 242 822

8 Chicago New York 1 161 181

9 Bangkok Hong Kong 1 141 063

10 London Paris 1 064 510

Source: Witlox, Vereecken and Derudder, “Mapping the Global Network Economy on the Basis of Air Passenger Transport Flows”, GaWC Research Bulletin 157, accessed at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/rb/rb157.html

“balanced” vs.“primate” urban systems

How do the shift to services and economic globalization affect balanced and primate urban systems?

“Some cities become part of transnational networks, whereas others become unhinged from the main centers of economic growth in their regions or countries.”

“Cities that are strategic sites in the global economy tend to disconnect from their region.”Saskia Sassen, Cities in a World Economy (pp 60, 78)

Global city economic functionsPrimary functions

ManagementBanking and financeLegal servicesAccountingTechnical consultingTelecommunications and

computingInternational transportationResearchHigher education

Secondary functions

Real estateConstructionHotelsRestaurantsLuxury shoppingEntertainmentPrivate securityDomestic services

Tertiary functions

International tourism

Source: Friedmann and Wolff, “World City Formation” (p61)

Brugmann’s global city economies

• Density (increases efficiency; high-rise energy use; economies of proximity, e.g., Mumbai produce stands, Toronto furniture stores)

• Scale (increases volume; together these lead to economies of:)

• Association (“collaborative efficiency”; spillovers)

• Extension (links to other cities)

Source: Jeb Brugmann, Welcome to the Urban Revolution

“The central issue is the control of urban life. Whose interests will be served: those of the resident populations or of transnational corporations, or of the nation states that provide the political setting for world urbanization?”Friedmann and Wolff, “World City Formation”

Friedmann/Wolff – “world city formation”

Capital

Labor Government

Friedmann/Wolff – “world city formation”

Capital

Labor Government

Wages – housing – healthcare – safety – environment - education

“contested space”

tokyo

toronto

new york

paris

shanghai

johannesburg

sao paulo

caracas

1. Transnationals2. Diasporas3. Toronto

“The city is the place of our meeting with the other… The city is the privileged site where the other is and where we ourselves are other, as the place where we play the other.”Roland Barthes, “Semiology and the Urban” (1967)

“There is an interesting correspondence between great concentrations of corporate power and large concentrations of others…

“The cross-border network of global cities is a space where we are seeing the formation of new types of global politics of place.”Saskia Sassen, Cities in a World Economy (p 75)

Net migration rates

Source: Accessed 10/12/09 at http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Net_migration_rate_world.PNG

Global Remittance Flows, 2006 (US$ millions)

1. Transnationals2. Diasporas3. Toronto

Toronto on the world city network

Source: World City Network: A New Metageography?, Beaverstock, Smith and Taylor (2000)

Canadian immigrants• In 2007, a total of 236,758 people were admitted to Canada

as permanent residents

• Of the permanent residents admitted in 2007:

55.4 % (131,248) were economic immigrants and their dependents28.0 % (66,230) were in the Family Class11.8 % (27,956) were protected persons4.7 % (11,201) were granted permanent resident status on humanitarian grounds

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts & Figures 2007

Where do immigrants settle in Canada? (2007)

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Facts & Figures 2007

Europe 1300

Ethnic enclaves: postmetropolis or transnational diasporas?

• “Ethnic neighborhoods may affect the socio-economic interaction both within a minority group and between the group and the rest of the society.

• “Residential concentration enables the retention of ethnic identity and the maintenance of religious, educational, and welfare institutions that are crucial for the social interaction of the group.

• “On the other hand, residential concentration of minority groups may result in social isolation and reduce minorities’ incentives to acquire the host-country language or to gain work experience and educational qualifications.”

Source: Hou and Picot, “Visible Minority Neighborhoods in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver” (2004)