When we walk around our cities, we notice how they share similar characteristics. Whether we're in a Spanish city or a large Swedish one, we could easily find a hamburger from a large multinational or a coffee in the city center. Walking through cities, we can see large clothing chains and fast-food outlets; we can buy the same foods and the same clothing. Whether we're in London or Berlin makes no difference.
David Harvey , a British geographer and sociologist, writes that class domination is exercised not only over state mechanisms but also over entire populations: over their lifestyles and their workforce, their cultural and political models, and their worldview. Saskia Sassen , a Dutch sociologist, argues that the greatest innovation of globalization is global cities . We must first understand the potential characteristics of this new type of city.
The characteristics of global cities
Global cities are characterized by two fundamental aspects: economic and political . From an economic perspective, according to Sassen, a global city possesses the capabilities and resources to operate in international and global businesses and markets. From a political perspective, however, one of the most problematic and characteristic issues of global cities is the struggle for space . She believes that this type of city is a conflictual space with primarily local connotations, but in fact global, as these conflicts for space are present in all global cities around the world. According to Henri Lefebvre , capitalism can only survive by occupying space. The global city, being a model of a capitalist city on a global level, would give rise to a real struggle for urban space, as it seeks to gain space at the expense of city dwellers, particularly the less well-off classes who cannot afford it. This generates inequalities within the urban space regarding the use of space and between those who can afford it and those who cannot.
The war for space
Cities are measured by performance, often determined by the attraction of capital and large multinationals that are responsible for globalization, and by the struggle and resistance of citizens. The city is changing, the specificity of downtown streets and sometimes the very identity and belonging of its inhabitants are changing. Zygmunt Bauman believes that always doing better than one's neighbor and trying to outdo others, thus putting individuals in competition, presupposes inequality. The competition generated by the struggle for space and the economic concept of the global city will lead to increasing inequality. Sassen believes that this disparity will hit the middle class hardest , which will become increasingly impoverished. They will have fewer economic opportunities to occupy space within the cities themselves, which will be divided between the richer and the increasingly poorer.
Between global and local
However, this conflict has given rise to a new form of politics and individual participation. Resistance is growing from excluded citizens, those living in the suburbs, social centers, and commercial businesses that are trying to resist the logic of large-scale distribution while trying to preserve their local identity. The city thus finds itself with both a global and a local dimension, constantly competing for space. The paradox in all of this is that citizens often use social networks and modern communication tools linked to multinationals . These multinationals are the cause of the struggle for the "right to the city," as Lefebvre would have defined it, but modern communication technology allows citizens to organize demonstrations to defend their identity and distinctiveness. Often, this gives rise to an informal economy that is growing exponentially in cities.
Luisa Cuccu
