Thomas Sigler

Relational Cities: Doha, Panama City, and Dubai as 21st Century EntrepÔts

In a dynamic global economy, emergent configurations of capitalist production produce novel spatial assemblages and correspondingly unique geometries of power. The “global cities” literature frames these transformative processes in terms of hierarchical world urban systems, providing a clear theoretical path to understanding the local implications of global spatial restructuring. This article develops the concept of the “relational city” as a transnational urbanist approach to understanding a particular subset of cities that are emblematic of the spatial transformations manifest through advanced capitalism. Relational cities are those constituted through globally critical flows of capital, goods, and ideas, and whose economies are dedicated to intermediary services such as offshore banking, container- and bulk-shipping, and regional re-exportation. Similar to gateway cities and entrepôts, relational cities are found eccentrically at one end of a fan-shaped network, connecting the global economy with a regional economic matrix. Drawing upon Doha, Dubai, and Panama City as illustrative case studies, this article suggests a new way of understanding urban change in a global context while simultaneously moving beyond the recurrent focus on the top-tier financial world cities of the Global North.

Transnational gentrification: Globalisation and neighbourhood change in Panama’s Casco Antiguo

Drawing upon the case of Panama’s Casco Antiguo, this paper establishes the theoretical concept of ‘transnational gentrification’: a process of neighbourhood change both enabled by and formative of a spatially embedded transnational ‘gentry’ whose locational mobility creates new possibilities for profitable housing reinvestment in geographically disparate markets where such possibilities would not have otherwise existed. Globalisation does not just create a common political-economic structure driving urban change or a common ideology for a gentrifying cohort. In this case, it creates historically and geographically specific connections between places, which themselves can become pathways along which gentrification processes propagate, connecting local capital to international consumer demand. The case of the Casco Antiguo offers a provocative inversion of a standard critical narrative of globalisation, whereby capital is freed from national constraints and able to roam globally while people largely remain place-bound. In the Casco Antiguo, residents are transnational and property developers are local.

Extending beyond ‘world cities’ in World City Network (WCN) research: urban positionality and economic linkages through the Australia-based corporate network

Defining the role of cities within economic networks has been a key theoretical challenge, particularly as nuanced understandings of positionality are increasingly championed over hierarchical notions of influence or power in the World City Network (WCN). This paper applies social network analysis (SNA) to identify the critical role that a wide range of cities plays in the Australian economic system. Drawing upon the set of Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listed firms, four distinct sub-networks are compared against the overall urban network. Each of the materials, energy, industrials, and financials sector sub-networks are found to have unique configurations of inter-urban relations, which are articulated through institutional and industry-specific factors, grounded in diverse histories and path-dependent trajectories. This analysis applies five different centrality measures to understand how positionality within the overall network and respective sub-networks might better inform policymakers formulating ‘globalizing’ urban policy. This addresses the long-standing theoretical debate regarding territorially articulated hierarchies of urban/corporate power, extricating WCN research from the core-periphery assumptions tied to its world-systems theory lineage. Understanding how, rather than if, cities are global provides contextual knowledge about how cities are situated within broader circuits of production, and the exogenous relations that shape urban economies around the world, providing a framework for research in other global contexts.

Sustainability from a Chinese cultural perspective: the implications of harmonious development in environmental management

AbstractSustainable development has broad consensus in environmental science and policy discourse, but its implications differ in specific cultural contexts. This article articulates sustainable development from a Chinese cultural perspective by tracing ideas from Chinese traditional culture and exploring China’s concept of harmonious development with emphasis on environmental management. Ideas that resemble sustainable development are not new to Chinese culture, but have roots in ancient Chinese thoughts, which in turn influence current governance and policies. Notably, Chinese traditional philosophies such as Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and Yin–Yang contain philosophies fundamental to sustainable development. As a distinct local discourse, such concepts were well interpreted and understood in the ancient meaning of harmony, giving China unique sustainability perspectives with institutional implications for policies of harmonious development and environmental management. Currently, China is driven to create a new national identity of harmonious development that involves Chinese traditional philosophies and values in its modern administration. The slogans “harmonious society” and “Chinese dream” reflect this new way of responding to the world with the aspiration to achieve cleaner growth, personal prosperity, and social stability. The Chinese and Western roots of sustainable development are conceptually, ideologically, and historically different, and this paper articulates how the convergence of the two underlies contemporary international debates.

Panama as Palimpsest: The Reformulation of the ‘Transit Corridor’ in a Global Economy

The interface between economic globalization and territorial formation has been a fundamental concern to scholars from a wide range of disciplines as both supra- and subnational configurations increasingly supplant the role of the nation-state so as to achieve purported political or economic objectives. Though extensive literatures document this process, considerable lacunae exist with regard to the understanding thereof within a socio-historical framework. This article invokes the concept of ‘palimpsest’ as a metaphor through which one reads the re-inscription of multiple layers of the built environment or territory vis-a-vis the widespread changes within Panamas ‘transit corridor’ — a densely settled territorial strip extending from the northern city of Colon to Panama City in the south. Though much of this transformation has been attributed to the newfound economic stability of the Panamanian state, I argue that these structural changes are best understood in the context of prior developments on the Isthmus of Panama dating back centuries. To this end, both structural and poststructural arguments are invoked so as to transgress a narrow focus on Panama as a fixed territorial entity.

Global city clusters: theorizing spatial and non-spatial proximity in inter-urban firm networks

ABSTRACT Spatial agglomeration is well theorized within regional studies and economic geography, with firm- and industry-level advantages generally attributable to the strategic benefits derived from spatial proximity. Increasingly, alternative proximity types have been explored to explain firm relationships within and between industries. This paper applies a novel social network analysis (SNA) approach to analyze city clustering as a function of both spatial and non-spatial factors – namely, economic, sociocultural and geopolitical. Based on the internal reporting structures of Australia-based firms, it explores how ‘global clusters’ are more useful in understanding industry dynamics and processes than hierarchical lists of cities of cascading importance.

Beyond Representation: Film as a Pedagogical Tool in Urban Geography

Abstract This article evaluates the learning outcomes of a month-long cities in film course offered during an intensive, four-week semester at a liberal arts college in the United States. The course was divided into four shorter units that explored specific cities and subregions in detail through multiple, and often conflicting, perspectives. It begins with an overview of the scholarly perspectives on the use of film within geography. Based on evidence from 142 student reaction papers, the courses actual learning outcomes against its purported learning outcomes was evaluated. This analysis offers critical and empirical best practices for future geographic instruction through film.

Metropolitan land-use patterns by economic function: a spatial analysis of firm headquarters and branch office locations in Australian cities

This paper develops a comparative means by which to understand metropolitan spatial structure through the dynamics of economic activities. Clustering and suburbanization have been key processes within the contemporary urban landscape, but few scholarly accounts have systematically merged the two to explain the geographies of economic activity. Using firm location as a variable to discern sector- and industry-based locational requirements, we explore land-use and economic activity in Australia’s five largest metropolitan areas. Drawing upon the respective headquarters and branch office locations of a set of publically traded firms, we seek to establish general spatial patterns across Australian cities using two proxy measures for clustering and suburbanization, being well-established drivers of firm locational choice. Despite the complexity that post-industrial and suburbanizing processes add to metropolitan land-use patterns, we contend that certain patterns exist that can be generalized from one context to another across urban space, and that certain emerging trends such as the development of CBD-fringe precincts merit greater attention.

Spatial Mobility Patterns of Overseas Graduates in Australia

In light of pronounced and persistent labour and skill shortages in non-metropolitan areas, Australia has sought to develop and maintain a comprehensive immigration policy framework and development policies to attract and retain overseas graduates from local Higher Education Institutions. While prior work has shed light on the employment outcomes and the individual characteristics that promote settlement outside major cities, less is known about the post-graduation migration patterns and redistribution of overseas graduates following graduation. Drawing on data from the Australian Graduate Survey, this chapter explores the key spatial patterns and redistribution of overseas graduates in Australia. The results highlight the propensity of overseas graduates to cluster in the metropolitan areas of New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland for employment following graduation. Overseas graduates are more likely to study in regional areas than their domestic counterparts, but are also more likely to move to major metropolitan areas after graduation. Overseas graduates are drawn to major metropolitan regions by social and economic ties, particularly to migrant communities within major cities. The clear preference of overseas graduates for metropolitan areas highlights that existing rural development policies have a limited demonstrated capacity to redirect overseas graduates to work in non-metropolitan areas and suggests a need for future policies to consider ways in which particular factors – such as a sense of attachment from previous study and living experience in a non-metropolitan locale – affect desired migratory outcomes.

How Chinese Financial Centers Integrate into Global Financial Center Networks: An Empirical Study Based on Overseas Expansion of Chinese Financial Service Firms

The increasing globalization of the Chinese economy has been enabled by both Chinese financial institutions operating globally as well as international firms operating within China. In geographical terms, this has been organized through a number of strategic cities serving as gateways for the exchange of financial functions, products and practices between China and the global economy. Drawing on location data of financial service firms in China listed on stock exchanges in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hong Kong, this paper shows that Chinese financial firms are expanding globally and how Chinese financial centers are positioned and connected in the urban networks shaped by these financial service firms. It is found that Hong Kong, China, holds strategic positions in the integration of Chinese cities into global financial center networks, and that establishing a foothold in global financial centers such as New York and London has been a priority for Chinese financial institutions. The increasing capital flows directed by Chinese financial institutions suggests a shifting global financial geography, with numerous Chinese cities playing increasingly important roles within global financial center networks.