Global Cities

As the world becomes more globalized, cities around the world are connected on a larger scale. There has probably always been cities that have connected people from different parts of the world and have had a huge influence and impact on the economics, culture, politics of the world, but recently people have been calling the major cities of today "Global Cities". There has been research done to determine on how to define what a global city is. Global cities are home to a major stock exchange, participates in international finical services like banking, accounting, and marketing, has great influence in international politics, has world-renowned cultural institutions, world renowned universities and high international student attendance, major media hub, a large public transit network to connect the city, has a large international airport, and has an amazing sky-line. A city that has all of these points would be considered a higher tier of a global city compared to one that has one or two less.

Global cities are split into four tiers, sometimes being categorized by calling the top tier Alpha, then goes to Beta, Gamma, and Sufficiency at last tier. The top 10 global cities as of 2012 are New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seoul, Brussels, and Washington D.C. It is predicted that as time goes one that other Asian cities will rise to or near the top ten. It is predicted that Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai will rise into the top ten as these cities continue to be influential. New York and London continue to be on the top 2, New York being first and London second, of all of the Global Cities Indexes, from global power, economic power, wealth, and competitiveness. 

While many cities will continue to rise, others struggle to keep their position and might fall in position in the future. Mexico City for example is the most likely to lose its rank. Mexico City has the highest vulnerability score on emerging global cities, it has a score of  7.8, with 10 being the most vulnerable to fall. The highest factor to this is instability in the city and corruption, no doubt because of the war on drugs that continues throughout the city. 

Global Cities play a major role in today's world and will continue to rise and fall.  

More on Global Cities
http://www.newgeography.com/content/003292-what-is-a-global-city
http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/map_worldcities.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city
http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/map_worldcities.html