Abstract
As the world shrinks into a ‘global village’, cities have come into focus as dominant nodes in the global transactions and flows of capital, commodities, people and services. The resulting economic cum information order is not only transforming the architecture of discrete cities everywhere but is also motivating new patterns of inter-city relations and networks. Global urban network is now synonymous with the trans-state processes that make up the global economy (Taylor, Political Geography 19:5–32, 2000). Hence, cities are increasing perceived as a new ‘resource’ and ‘spring board’ for connecting to and operating at the global level. The article explores these issues with reference to the place and function of African cities in the global urban network. A city-based assessment of this nature offers a fresh and fluid scope to African development question and quest as against the more conventional ‘state-centric’ benchmarking.
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Notes
United Nations (1998) World Population Prospects 1950–2050 (1996 Revision). New York: Population Division.
Based on established positive correlation between urban development and macroeconomic performance, World Bank (1991) has adopted a different axiom of the city as the ‘engine of development’. Clark (2003) also espouses the obverse economic viewpoint—the ongoing rapid urban growth and rapid change as the spatial consequence of global capitalism.
One successful attempt at devising city-denominated statistics is the Global Urban Observatory Project initiated by the UN Habitat some time in 1997. The City Development Index (CDI), which measures the ‘wellbeing and access to urban facilities by individuals’ (refer to UNCHS 2001, p 116) is the flagship of this project.
The world city network idea encapsulates the idea of ‘cities in globalization’, denoting the fact that globalization processes are not limited to ‘world cities’ alone but also do encompass small- and medium-sized towns (and even villages!) all over the world. This theory was largely developed by Peter Taylor and his colleagues of the Globalization and World City (GaWC) Study Group and Network based at Loughborough University in UK. It is a more inclusive alternative to the global urban hierarchy perspective advanced by Peter Hall, John Friedmann, Saskia Sassen, and others.
The APSFs contained in ‘GaWC 100’ are 19 global accounting firms (like Arthur Andersen, KPMG, Price-Water-House Coopers etc.; 15 global advertising firms (like Impiric, Saatchi & Saatchi, Young and Rubicam Inc., etc.; 23 global banks and financial firms (like ABN-AMR Holding NV, Citi Group, Deutche Bank etc.); 11 global insurance firms (like Alliance Group, Lloyd’s, Chubb Group etc.); 17 global law firms (like Baker and Mckenzie, Allen and Overy, Latham and Watkins etc.); and 17 global management consultancy firms (like Deloitte-Touche-Tohmatsu, Andersen Consulting, Watson Wyatt Worldwide etc.). For the complete list of these global firms (refer to www.Iboro.ac.uk/gawc/dataset/da11_1.html).
This statistical package was developed by Messrs E. C. and C. C. Rossi and is based on Peter Taylor’s second formula outlined above in the text. The World City Subroutine is available on the GaWC website.
Taylor (2005) has specified that the two measures of nodal size and network connectivity are not mutually proportional. In essence, a larger nodal size does not necessarily amount to equivalent proportion of connectivity (previously published as GaWC Bulletin 146). This explains why cities with larger nodal sizes can less on connectivity index than those with lower nodal sizes (refer to Table 1).
The fact that Johannesburg is ranked in the GaWC’s world city roster as a ‘Gamma world city’ is a partial confirmation of the current ranking. The only other African countries mentioned in that particular roster with ‘some evidence’ and ‘minimal evidence’ of world city formation are Cairo and Cape Town respectively (see Beaverstock et al. 1999, p 456).
However, Amin and Graham (1997: 416) who introduced the new idea of the ‘variegated and multiplex city’ believe rather than resort ‘to totalizing paradigmatic examples and over-generalizing from narrow, partial perspectives’ urban studies will be better served by better methodological approaches that rely on in-depth studies of discrete cities.
Bequeathed and popularised by World Bank (1991)
Accredited to Amin and Graham (1997)
See Friedman (1986)
See Landry and Bianchini (1995).
The recourse to the same dataset may seem far from appropriate but this is part of the serious data constraints, which Short et al. (1996) have whimsically dubbed ‘the dirty little secrets of world city research’. As a measure to get around it, the current analysis had chosen a larger sample size, adopted a different analytical technique, and a few other differentiations like calculation of the nodal sizes.
Taylor (2000) had earlier established a positive relationship between levels of world city formation and the size of national economies (as measured by GDP) in 72 cities across the world but was careful to specify that “beyond the size of economy, what are important are the economic opportunities that exist in a country.” (p.16)
The phrase ‘disrupting spatial coordinates’ was borrowed from Simone (2000: 38), who used it to denote the intriguing transformations in the African urban space resulting from globalization.
Globalization has its economic, political, socio-cultural as well as spatial dimensions or cognates. Though these manifestations often seem abstract but in many cases they are ‘at home’ with us. This is what is usually referred to as ‘globalization on the ground’. Chakrovorty’s (2000) work is a good case in point. He illustrated India’s long engagement with the global economy and how the interactions are transforming and reshaping the economy and structure of its famous mega-city, Calcutta.
As in other parts of the world, the Internet, GSM, and cable television are revolutionalizing communication in Africa. The new information upsurge has many benefits (see Njoh 2005) as well as other ‘side attractions’ such as the spread of global mass culture and exotic convention. One pervasive example is the new wave of football spectatorship/supporter-ship being stimulated by cable television and the internet in Africa. The attraction for foreign football clubs in the British Premiership, Italian Serie A, and Spanish La Liga, for example, is currently very high, and it is proceeding at the expense of the once-thriving local football leagues (see Tell Magazine, June 2009). Some observers do not see these activities as mere conventions or passing fads but bemoan them as clear signs of socio-cultural disorientation and domination.
Global reach is defined by Yeung (2000, p 1) as ‘the complex processes through which a city articulates itself into and benefits from participating in the global economy’.
Some world city researcher (including Henry Yeung, himself) believe that in addition to these governance or management practices, certain historical and geographical factors have combined to predispose many established ‘world cities’ to the capital and capacity accumulation that gave them force. This view is also espoused by a number of urban economists and geographers (see Henderson et al. 2000; Naudé 2007).
It is also for this same reason and other related issues that urban planning in Africa has found itself at the crossroads. Despite this apparent ‘commotion’ in planning theory and practice in Africa is attributable to the ‘clash of rationalities’, innovative measures are seemingly on course to get around it (Watson 2003, 2009; Harrison 2006). At this, Watson (2009: 2273) suggests a shift that involves ‘turning the concept of conflicting rationality into a useful analytical and normative tool for planning’ not just in Africa but the whole of global South.
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Acknowledgement
The Author is grateful to Prof. Chibuike Uche of the Department of Finance and Banking of the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus for his very valuable comments on an earlier draft of this article. He also acknowledges with gratitude the extensive use of the GaWC Study Group and Network database and the World Cities Subroutine developed by E. C. and C. C. Rossi. However, all errors in this paper remain mine.
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Onyebueke, V.U. Place and Function of African Cities in the Global Urban Network: Exploring the Matters Arising. Urban Forum 22, 1–21 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-010-9097-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-010-9097-2