Global Networks
Global networks
Links between different countries in the world, which includes flows of capital, traded goods,
services, information & people are very important. Some places are well connected but others
poorly.
 Network: Illustration or model that shows how different places are linked together. Eg the
Tube (underground train) map of London. You can imagine a world map of the most connected
countries laid out similarly. See the next slide
Global hub: A node (point on a network map) that is especially well connected.
Flows: The connections between the hubs are known as flows.
Connections between these hubs are called flows and include:
1) Money= major capital flows are routed through global stock markets
2) Raw materials = e.g. food and oil traded between nations
3) Manufactured goods and services = value of world trade is 70 trillion dollars
4) Information = internet has brought real-time communication between distant places
5) People = movement of people still an issue due to border controls and immigration law
People
Money
Raw materials
Examples of flows within
networks
Manufactured goods and
services
Information
The world at night
city lights = yellow
fishing fleets = green
oil flares=red burning forest = purple
aurora borealis over greenland = light blue
So what does the photo show
us?
•This can be used to show not only how population is spread
out but also where wealth is found. The richest regions of
Europe and N.America are brightly lit. We can also see rich
core regions in countries with less overall national growth,
eg. Brazil. The light represents places which are lit or using
heat and are known as ‘switched on’.
Terms
• The Core – The most developed and highly populated region of a
country. The growth of core regions is fed by flows of labour from less
well – developed regions. Particularly visible of states like India and
China where populations are massive
• Switched on places – Nations, regions or cities that are strongly
connected to other places through the production and consumption
of goods and services. In contrast, places that are poorly connected
are said to be relatively switched off i.e. North Korea
• This is not suggesting that all other places are ‘switched off’.
• Few areas on earth are almost entirely cut off from the rest
of the world – maybe only some Amazonian tribes that are in
Wilderness Areas.
• Wilderness Areas – are areas of the world that have
remained relatively untouched by man and is home to only a
small number of indigenous people. Examples are
Amazonia, Borneo and Antarctica (which is unpopulated).
Networks and Flows
• We can map out networks and flows on
many scales
• Since the introduction of GIS, we are able to
map out cities and countries based on how
well connected they are
• The points that connect are called nodes
• A global hub is a node that is especially well
The world
according to Friedman (a
connected
Geographer) in 1986. This map shows all
• Connections
between
nodes or global hubs
the links
between the countries
at the
time are called flows
The world according to GaWC (Globalisation and World Cities)
set up at Loughborough University. This map shows the most well
connected cities.
Technology builds global networks
•Networks have been built using technology, both transport and communication,
which has developed over time.
•Using these technologies TNC’s have played a major part in building bridges
between countries while air travel and tourist operators facilitate flows or tourists.
For increasing numbers of people the effect is of living in a shrinking world.
200 AD – World’s first sailing ships
Communication Time Line
1500-1700 – Industrial canals and stagecoach routes reduce land travel times
Early 1800s – First steam ship crosses Atlantic in 1819 (29 days) with regular
crossings by 1830s
Late 1800s – Transatlantic telegraph cable laid in 1866, later to be superseded
by telephone. Radio experiments begin in 1890s
Early 1900s – Ford motorcar company launched in 1903. First television built in
1926. Boeing commercial flights by 1928.
Late 1900s – First mobile phones available in early 1980s. World wide web
(internet) developed in 1989 using PC and Modem.
Air Travel - faster
GIS/GPS - first
GPS in 1970s, now
24 in orbit. GIS can
collect, manage and
analyse satellite data
A Shrinking
world?
Distant places start to
feel closer and take
less time to reach.
Sometimes known as
‘time – space
compression’
Internet - large amount
of data can be moved
across cyberspace and
allows office staff to
work from home
planes with greater
capacity e.g. Airbus.
Firms e.g. Easyjet have
allowed mass air travel
Telephone - these
replaced 3-week boat
trips and laid the ground
for TNCs to operate in
different countries
simultanesouly. Parts of
Africa are now 'leapfrogging' straight to
mobile phones
What builds global networks?
• Technology has long since been a
driver of revolutionising the way in
which national and now international
networks operate
• TNCs have used technologies to play a
major role in building bridges between
countries, while air travel has increased
the international flows of tourists
The world of Facebook
Web trends 2007
Time-space compression
• In the 1700s it took 2 years for HMS
Dolphin (a frigate ship) to travel around the
world
• In 1930s it took 8 days for a propellor
aircraft to travel around the world
• In the 1990s it took 31 hours for a
Concorde to travel around the world
Case study: easyJet
• easyJet can be seen as a major
influence on creating a global network
through its cheap flights
• Make case study notes on easyJet
using p. 115
• Use the following points to create your
case study:
• How the company
has grown
• How it grew into a
TNC
• The role of
technology in its
growth
• The effect that
easyJet has on
places in adds to its
flight network
How is the world becoming smaller?
Telephones
The
Internet
Air travel
GIS and
GPS
What happens in global hubs?
• These are often major network nodes and are
switched on places
• Other places want to connect to them
• These are often world cities (which we will come on
to later)
• They are normally the core of the country’s
economy.
•They possess qualities which makes countries want to
trade with them:
NATURAL: coastline ideal for trade, strategic location,
oil resources and physical factors which aid growth of
industry.
HUMAN: large labour force, affluence, skilled labour
and languages spoken (eg/ English call centres in
• A government can encourage the formation of a hub by
allocating an area as an export processing zone – a small
industrial area often on the coast) where favourable conditions
are created to attract foreign TNCs. These conditions include
low tax rates and exemptions from tariff and export duties.
• They may be technopoles – a cluster of technologically
innovative businesses and research institutes eg Silicon
Valley California, Silicon Fen Cambridge (UK).
• They will experience a multiplier effect - where there are
positive spin offs from investment. Other firms may gain
business supplying parts, the increase spending power of the
workers stimulates the service sector and higher tax revenues
may be invested in education and infrastructure.
• Business clustering may occur – eg central London is home
to a cluster of television production companies and
universities that deliver media courses.
Cumulative causation
• There is a reason why wealth becomes
concentrated in certain places.
Globalisation increases in places like
this, as local people can find global
markets for there products or attract
employers with their skills
What happens in middle to low
income countries?
• In the richer parts of the world, wealth has spread to
peripheral parts of the economies and is not solely
concentrated in the core as development began a
long time ago (since industrial revolution in 1750).
This is what we call trickle down
• However, in places that have industrialised quite
quickly (like Brazil and South Africa), many people
still live in poverty despite the presence of global
hubs like Sao Paulo and Johannesburg
• Other places like Nigeria which have seen massive
growth for its elite from the expansion on the oil
industry. However, the Ogoni people living in the
delta where oil is extracted have received no
money and had to suffer an environmental
catastrophe.
Switched off places
• The very poorest nations remain
switched off
• They may lack global hubs, or strong
flows of trade and investments
• Conditions are poor for most people in
rural and urban areas e.g. Sudan,
Chad and Somalia
• There are many reasons for why places
continue to be switched off
Why do some regions remain relatively switched off
Physical
Vulnerable to climate
change and natural
hazards
Poor resources for
agriculture
Lack of coastline
deters investment from
TNCs seeking an
import/export base
Challenges
Human
Low prices for food
exports due to over
production and trade
rules
Ethnic clashes
between tribes
Resources controlled
by foreign TNC
Politically isolated
Infighting and civil war
over resources
Resources controlled
by a small elite
Lack of skills and
literacy deters investors
Reading
• See separate summary of ‘switched on’
and ‘switched off’ areas
Also:
• Read p 110-119 Philip Allan
• Answer review questions p 119
• Read p 88-94 Pearson
• Answer Exam Practice Q p 95