PLM4270

Global cities, international trade and Asian-Pacific change

Offered subject to approval

Andrew Perry

12 points
* 2 hours per week, or equivalent in intensive mode
* First semester
* Clayton

Objectives Upon completing this subject students should be aware of and understand some important contributions to debates about global cities and mega-cities; show a capacity to assess critically analyses offered about factors responsible for the evolution of global cities; be able to identify some of the major potential or actual socio-economic and political changes that can take place as global cities evolve over time; have developed specialized knowledge about some of the cities examined in case studies in the subject; and show a capacity for comparative analysis and empirical research into the experiences of such cities.

Synopsis The subject examines what various writers mean when such terms as `global cities' `mega-cities' and `city-regions', and explores claims about how and why these may differ from other large cities. It studies various ideas and arguments about why some modern cities may rise or decline in importance over time, and includes analysis of potential and actual changes in their economic and political affairs as new kinds of products and services develop in Asian-Pacific and North American regions. It examines patterns of national and international competition for leadership among cities, and some implications of such competition for the socio-economic development of individual cities and for ways in which local and national patterns of political activity may be modified or sharply transformed.

Assessment One essay (4000 words): 40%
* One class paper (2000 words): 20%
* Examination (3 hours): 40%

Recommended texts

Aharoni Y (ed.) Coalitions and competition Routledge 1993
Blakely E J and Stinson R J (eds) New cities of the Pacific rim U California P, 1991
Davis M City of quartz: Excavating the future in Los Angeles Vintage, 1990
Downs A New visions for metropolitan America Brookings, 1994
Friedmann J World city futures Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997
Hutton T The transformation of Canada's Pacific metropolis Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1997
Knox P and Taylor PJ (eds) World cities in a world system CUP, 1995