New York is Losing its Prominence

Apparently, this is the conclusion of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Charles Schumer in a new CFR article, "The Shifting Capital of Capital". Too many reports are showing London as the World's financial capital. If you ask me, this probably has more to do with the fact that one British pound is now worth two US dollars than anything having to do with US vs UK regulatory practices. Don't tell that to Mike and Chuck though - they are blaming it on Sarbanes-Oxley and are proposing ways to lessen some of the regulations put on corporate America after the Enron scandal. While I agree that some of these regulations are cumbersome and could use reform, this is not hitting the nail on the head. The US dollar is in big trouble and we need to balance the federal budget in order to ensure that all US cities remain competitive in the next 20-30 years.

Is Berlin Losing its Edginess?

According to an article in today's Los Angeles Times, the answer is a heavy handed yes. When I visited Berlin in the summer of 2004, it seemed like a relief after Paris and Amsterdam. The prices, while still in the unfavorable euro, were quite cheap. You could feel the history of the city because there were so many people who had lived in a divided city that for years symbolized a global struggle. I found myself roaming the city searching for more hints of its past and trying to figure out where it was going. When I came back there was a course being offered at my university by a visiting German professor on the history of Berlin. Through that course I learned more about the city's prewar image as a heathen's metropolis that the Nazi's ridiculed aptly to grow their power base. I also learned that although it is the capital of the largest country in Europe, it had a 20 percent unemployment rate and the headquarters of only two of the country's 100 largest corporations. It was explained that in many ways Berlin's economic situation more closely resembled a 1980s Detroit or Pittsburgh than a New York or a London.

While I'm saddened by the idea of that city changing, I think that it is inevitable. Again, it is the capital of a true world economic power and it has healed its most visible wounds. It serves as a reminder that cities are organic and change with their surroundings like humans do. The Berlin of my summer of 2004 was far wealthier than Isherwood's of 1924, less dominant and powerful than Bismarck's of 1874, and more at peace with itself than the Cold War symbol of 1964. Like our own lives - surroundings transform cities over time. Don't get too remorseful because witnessing those changes can be pretty exciting too.

Globalization Tests Dutch Liberalism

One of the most pervasive repercussions of globalization has been the rise of protectionism and xenophobia in many developed countries that for many years have been regarded has the most liberal and open societies on earth. In the United States, we have always had a swinging pendulum between more porous borders and putting up protectionist shields. In Europe, many societies are dealing with massive peacetime immigration for the first time in their histories. In a July 1 Washington Post article, "Liberal Dutch Identity is Tested" the resurgence of the orthodox Christian Union party is profiled. A fascinating NPR series, "Europe's Right Turn", which aired last November, analyzes this political shift throughout the rest of the continent.

Potomac Angst and the Reviewing of the City-State Relationship

Monday's TIME Magazine cover story, "Who Needs Washington?", featuring Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I-NYC), and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) reminded me of a recent Globalization and Word Cities (GaWC) Research Bulletin by P.J. Taylor entitled, "Cities and States: An Elemental Reinterpretation of their Origins and Relations". The piece does not go so far as to say that cities are gaining power at the expense of nation-states, but he argues that a fundamental reanalysis of how scholars approach city-state relationships is in order. The article gives a great overview of how this relationship has changed over time. If it is the mission of the two mavericks featured on TIME's cover to restructure this relationship it seems that there is ample historical precedent for it.

Most of World's Population will Live in Urban Areas by 2008

A new United Nations Population Fund Report, State of the World Population: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth, was released today. One key finding of the report got significant news coverage. In 2008, for the first time in world history more than half of the globe's population will live in towns and cities. The figure of roughly 3.3 billion urban dwellers is expected to grow to 4.9 billion by 2030. Surprisingly, overall rates of urban population growth will continue to decline during the next two decades. This is due in large part to declines in the populations of most of the world's mega-cities, such as Mexico City and Calcutta, among others. The upswing is actually fueled by growth in cities and towns with 500,000 people. This is a trend that is reminiscent of one documented by the US Census Bureau following the 2000 census.

NYC vs. Detroit: the Winners and Losers of the Global Era

Harvard scholar Edward Glaesar wrote an awesome opinion piece in today's New York Sun juxtaposing the experiences of New York City and Detroit in the Industrial Era (1890s-1950s) and the Global Era (1960s-present). These two pictures clearly illustrate this paradigm.

While I am often wary of the effects that globalization and deindustrialization have had on cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh among others, I too am attracted to the benefits that growing, dense, innovative power nodes bring. As a city lover, how could I think otherwise? Cities are more than just agglomerations of buildings. There is no experience greater for myself than to wake up in a city where change is in the air, where people flock to, not flock from.

Brookings published an interesting study, Restoring Prosperity: the State Role in Revitalizing America's Older Industrial Cities on why some cities are in ascendance and others are not, and while some of the conclusions may seem obvious, it's definitely worth a look.

Photo Credits: Time Warner Center, New York - MorgueFile.com; Michigan Central Train Station, Detroit - Dave Hogg, photographer

More Rankings: Moscow is World's Most Expensive City

London-based Mercer Human Resource Consulting released a new set of rankings of the World's 50 most expensive cities. Moscow topped the list, followed closely behind by London. The highest ranking US city, New York is ranked at 15, down from number 10 last year. The only other US city to crack the top 50 was LA which came in at number 42, down significantly from number 29 last year. Not surprisingly, most of the cities that saw big jumps were in Europe where the Euro and the British Pound continue to gain value versus the US Dollar. The methodology is more related to how much globe trotting executives should expect to spend in one city versus the other, and therefore it is not nearly as extensive or as related to the overarching "Globalization and Cities" subject as last week's MasterCard rankings are, but it's definitely worth a look.

Photo Source: Wikipedia.org