At global cities – also known as world cities – is a term used to designate those locations where there is an intense economic, urban and social advance. These are cities in which the transformations of urban space took place more intensely, transforming them into real decision-making centers of world political and commercial power.
Originally, these cities were known for their large number of industries. Over time, the presence of factories and their chimneys was, little by little, no longer important. Thus, these industries were migrating to other points, remaining in global cities the headquarters of large companies, banks and multinationals, in addition to the main stock exchanges and offices of organizations international.
The main cities in the world are New York, London and Paris. In Brazil, there are two: São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
São Paulo is also considered a global city
It is important to remember that the number of inhabitants is not important to define the level of economic advancement and to say whether a particular region has a global city or not. The size of the space built in these spaces is not relevant either. The main factor in this concept is the level of complexity of urban economies.
There are currently more than fifty global cities in the world. They are usually divided into three groups: Alpha, for the main economic centers; Beta, for medium-sized global cities; and Gamma, for cities with a slightly more limited range, but still important.
Alpha Group Global Cities: New York (USA), London (England), Paris (France), Tokyo (Japan) etc.
Global Cities of the Beta Group: Madrid (Spain), São Paulo (Brazil), Sydney (Australia) etc.
Global Cities of Grupo Gama: Rome (Italy), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Beijing (China) etc.
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography
