Flows and Scapes - forms and
modes of processes in global
politics
Global Politics
Looking at the core of Castells'
Arguement
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Space organizes time in a network society
The concept of space and time are changing – the
effect of information technology and social change
affected by history
Space of flows vs. space of logic
The Role of the Global City
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The global city is “not a place but a process;”
the city becomes a process as in the sense that
production and consumption of services is
connected by global networks
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This statement is significant: the flow of information is
eroding national boundaries, physical location as a source
of power is only so strong, ie shifts in global city trends
Advanced services are the core of economic processes –
all which reduce to knowledge and information flows
Global cities give rise to regional centers and that cannot
limit global city eminence to only a few select cities
Global Cities and Interdependence
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The concept of valuable space in the city
changed with suburbanization; new centers
increase interdependence as the process links
services, production, and markets to a global
network
Territories play a subordinate role – regional
centers however have restructured the global
economy; regions/ localities do not disappear
but rather become integrated into international
networks
Why is the urban space still
important?
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Cities are information-based and valubable to the
center of production – firms can locate a skilled
labor force and materials in the metropolitan areas
Flexibility is key – accessing material/ labor is
important
Property is a valuable asset in the company and
persoanl contact is still crucial to business
The Industrial Space
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Technology has enabled to divide the production
process among various localities, while still
allowing for the fabrication of a final product
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This creates specialization
The labor force is primarily not affected by such
high-level manufacturing: unskilled laborers are still
the bulk of employment
“Off-shore” employment has increased global
competition
The most important information-technology centers
are new – capital, labor, and raw materials aid the
development
Industrial Space Cont.
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Innovation is the basis of establishing structure –
this will attract firms, capital, and labor
Established innovations compete and cooperate
between regions – this gives rise to global
networks
The industrial space is constantly changing
Technology and the City
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Cities viod of their functional activities – work,
entertainment, etc – will cease to exist with the
onset of new technolgy
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This theory seems improbable as the statistics of
teleworking illustrates the importantce of the city as a
place. It is not the “end of the office,” but a
diversification job opportunity that enhances
population mobility.
The commute will only get worse
Informational City
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The business center is the core of the city, linked
by global networks
Suburban areas reinforce the interdependence of
different units among the system
Suburban sprawl is unique to American culture.
American cities present a differnet look to the
informational city
European cities are shaped by history and have
agriculture development in the suburbs
“Megacities articulate the global economy”
Megacities
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Megacities are globally connected and locally
disconnected – in both physical and social aspects.
Castells argues this as the new urban form
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They concentrate world power, but they employ a
survival of the fittest mentality. Megacities link the
population globally while dissolving social goups in
city populations at the same time
Space and society
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Society is dependent on the metropolitan system
Spacial flows
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1st layer: made up of electronic impulses
2nd layer: nodes and hubs – a network links places
3rd layer: spacial organization of the dominate elites –
those that exercise power and functions
The space of flows is blurring the relationship between
society and architecture (a sense of eroding culture)
Does the space of flows eliminate
our definition of 'place?'
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A place is defined in terms of specific physical
boudaries that contain self-operating functions and
forms
Does globalization erode local identity?
Castells argues that the space of flows has altered
the conception of a place – structural
schizophrenia?