GEO 890
The World System of Cities
120 Geography Building
Tuesday and Thursday 9:10am – 10:30am
Instructor: Igor Vojnovic
Office: 127 Geography Building
Email: vojnovic@msu.edu
Phone: 355-7718
Course Description:
With trade liberalization decentralizing global economic activities in the 20th century, a new scale of
interdependence emerged between nations and cities on a worldwide basis. The removal of trade
barriers reduced the importance of national boundaries and has led to the reorganization of the early
industrial economy. This restructuring facilitated an international division of labor—the separation
of management, finance, and manufacturing—partitioning the world into specialized roles located
in different global regions. Trade liberalization enabled greater flexibility in industrial location, and
the subsequent economic restructuring was perhaps most evident with the ‘deindustrialization’ of
manufacturing in the core world countries and the growth of labor-intensive industrial production in
the lower-cost peripheral and semi-peripheral regions of the world. However, as production,
services, and product distribution was expanded to a worldwide context, controlling these dispersed
economic activities became a vital component of the new global economy. In addition, while the
removal of trade barriers was facilitating the spatial dispersal of economic activity, it was also
recognized that a new form of territorial centralization was developing with high order management
functions in a number of urban centers around the world.
This course will explore 20th century global economic restructuring and its social, economic,
and political impacts on regions and cities. A particular focus of the course will be directed to
exploring the transformation of cities during the 20th century—ranging from social, economic, and
political reorganization to the changing requirements in urban infrastructure and the nature of the
urban-built environment.
Course Breakdown:
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The World System of Cities
The Global Economy
Current Urban Patterns and Trends: Economy, Politics, and Culture
The Development of the Early Industrial City
Economic and Urban Restructuring in the Post-World War II Era
The Role of Cities in a Global Economy
World Cities
Mega Cities
Urban Systems in Core Countries
Urban Systems in Semi-Peripheral and Peripheral Countries
The Physical World of Urban Infrastructure: Requirements in an Era of Globalization
Urban Sustainability and Sustainable Development in a Global Economy
The World System of Cities
GEO 890
Class Assignments:
The course participants will be responsible for two papers in addition to regularly attending and
participating in class.
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Paper 1 (30%): Theoretical perspectives on the global economy.
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Paper 2, two options (50%): Exploring a topic for your PhD dissertation. This option
requires a draft of a potential dissertation proposal. OR Present a theoretical review on
world cities.
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Class participation (20%).
Paper #1:
Select a theoretical perspective from a social science discipline and provide an
(15-20 pages) assessment of the social, political, or economic impacts of the global economy on a
particular region of the world (peripheral, semi-peripheral, or core). You must have a
case study—a specific region or a city—to assess the specific transitions taking place
as a result of economic, political, or cultural globalization. Your assignment is to
examine how these specific transitions are explained or predicted by the research
emerging from your selected theoretical perspective.
(You must reference at least 15 peer-reviewed articles for Paper #1.)
Paper #2:
Your final assignment is the preparation of a PhD dissertation proposal. Select a
(20-25 pages) theoretical framework in a social science discipline, complete a literature review, and
define your potential research direction for your PhD dissertation. The major class
assignment requires you to prepare a dissertation proposal, which will include a
general hypothesis, research objectives, and the outline of the methods that you will
utilize to achieve the objectives of the proposed research.
(You must reference at least 25 peer-reviewed articles in your dissertation
proposal.)
OR
Select a theoretical perspective from a social science discipline on world cities and
provide an assessment of particular urban patterns and trends emerging in the global
economy. Once again, you must have a specific case study—a city or a metropolitan
region—that is the focus of the research. Your assignment is to examine how the
emergence of the global economy is shaping social, economic, political, or physical
patterns and transitions in the urban region, and also to explore how the particular
economic, social, or political structure of the city are shaping the global economy.
The assignment also involves assessing how the newly evolving patterns and
transitions are explained or predicted by the research emerging from your selected
theoretical perspective.
(You must reference at least 25 peer-reviewed articles in Paper #2.)
The World System of Cities
GEO 890
Readings:
Week 1: World Cities, An Introduction
(January 8)
Patrick Geddes. 1915. Chapter 3: “World Cities and Their Opening Competition” in Cities in
Evolution Pp. 46-59.
Peter Hall. 1966. Chapter 1: “The Metropolitan Explosion” in The World Cities. London:
Weidenfeld and Nicolson. Pp. 6-29.
John Friedmann. 1986. “The World City Hypothesis”. Development and Change 17(1) Pp. 69-84.
Nestor Rodriguez and Joe R. Feagin. 1986. “Urban Specialization in the World System: An
Investigation of Historical Cases”. Urban Affairs Quarterly
Week 2: The Evolving World System
(January 15)
Paul Knox. 2000. “World Cities in a World System” in Paul L. Knox and Peter J. Taylor (Eds.)
World Cities in a World System. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 1-20.
Kevin Cox. 1997. “Introduction: Globalization and its Politics in Question” in Kevin Cox (Ed.)
Spaces of Globalization. New York: Guildford.
Peter J. Taylor. 2000. “World Cities and Territorial States: The Rise and Fall of Their Mutuality” in
Paul L. Knox and Peter J. Taylor (Eds.) World Cities in a World System. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. Pp. 48-62.
Week 3: Social Organization, Culture, and the Economy in a Globalizing World
(January 22)
Allen Scott, John Agnew, Edward Soja, Michael Storper. 2001. “Global City-Regions” in Allen
Scott’s (Ed.) Global City-Regions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 11-30.
Chris Hamnett. 1994. “Social Polarization in Global Cities: Theory and Evidence”. Urban Studies
32(6) Pp. 213-224.
Kevin Cox. 1995. “Globalization, Competition, and the Politics of Local Economic Development”
Urban Studies 32(2) Pp. 213-224.
****Paper #1 proposals****
Week 4: Trade Liberalization and Urban Restructuring
(January 29)
Allen J. Scott. 2000. Regions and the World Economy: The Coming Shape of Global Production,
Competition, and Political Order. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapters 1 to 4.
The World System of Cities
GEO 890
Week 5: The Evolving Global Economy
(February 5)
Allen J. Scott. 2000. Regions and the World Economy: The Coming Shape of Global Production,
Competition, and Political Order. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapters 5 to 9.
Week 6: National and Transnational Urban Systems
(February 12)
Saskia Sassen. 2006. Cities in a World Economy (Third Edition). Thousand Oaks, California: Pine
Forge Press. Chapters 1 to 3.
Week 7: The New Urban Economy
(February 19)
Saskia Sassen. 2006. Cities in a World Economy (Third Edition). Thousand Oaks, California: Pine
Forge Press. Chapters 4 to 6.
****Paper #1 presentations****
Week 8: Urban Systems in Core Countries
(February 26)
Saskia Sassen. 2006. Cities in a World Economy (Third Edition). Thousand Oaks, California: Pine
Forge Press. Chapters 7 and 8.
Week 9: Spring Break
(March 5)
Week 10: Exploring the Periphery and the Semi-periphery
(March 12)
David Simon. 2000. “The World City Hypothesis: Reflections from the Periphery” in Paul L. Knox
and Peter J. Taylor (Eds.) World Cities in a World System. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Pp. 132-155.
Engin Isin. 2001. “Istanbul’s Conflicting Paths to Citizenship” in Allen Scott’s (Ed.) Global CityRegions. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. 349-368.
****Paper #2 proposals****
Week 11: World Urbanization Dynamics and the Emergence of Megacities
(March 19)
United Nations. 2001. World Urbanization Prospects. New York: United Nations.
The World System of Cities
GEO 890
Week 12: Global Cities
(March 26)
Saskia Sassen. 2001. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo (Second Edition). Princeton:
Princeton University Press. Chapters 1 to 4.
Week 13: The Urban Built Environment and Infrastructure Requirements in a
Globalizing World
(April 2)
Saskia Sassen. 2001. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo (Second Edition). Princeton:
Princeton University Press. Chapters 5 to 7.
Week 14: Urban-Environmental Stresses in the Context of Globalization
(April 9)
Saskia Sassen. 2001. The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo (Second Edition). Princeton:
Princeton University Press. Chapters 8 to 10.
Week 15: Focus Topics
(April 16)
Student presentations.
Week 16: Focus Topics
(April 23)
Student presentations.