Urban Systems Between National and Global: Recent Reconfiguration Through Transnational Networks

Abstract

Because the whole book’s issue assumes the uneven integrations of national/continental urban systems inside the global economy, this chapter evaluates the rates and qualitative modes of integration of the national urban systems by the economic networks that are dominated by multinational firms. The empirical study encompasses the largest 1250 cities of the world delineated in a comparative way according to common definitions of large urban regions (LURs). The position of LURs in multinational firms’ ownership networks in 2 years, 2010 and 2013, corresponds to the deepest period of the crisis and the following recovery, respectively. Thus, we checked that the fast reorganization of multinational firms facing this crisis between 2010 and 2013 did not fundamentally transform their strong urban organization but rather introduced some minor changes, particularly due to the simultaneous breakthrough of emergent countries’ companies (especially the Chinese ones). Synthetic network clustering methods partitioning cities of the world offer clear visions of the structure of the multipolar urban networks. They reveal “regions” of integration of cities for all kinds of multinational companies but also distinguishing companies according to their skill levels either in industry or in services. A special attention is given to some highly integrated cities appearing with properties of “city-states,” i.e., without a strong national urban system.