Globalization has a double effect on the communities exposed to it . On the one hand, it promotes a capitalist cosmopolitanism based on consumption and multilateral business models. But it also motivates a return to the values of nationalism , ethnicism, xenophobia and fascism . The main challenges for global cities have to do with reconciling local and global pressures . In them, the cosmopolitan, fast and delocalized world of telecommunications and global finance confront each other with the more domestic, traditional and indigenous world of the local.

They have positive immigration rates (inside and outside the country) and tend to host citizens of very different cultures and origins.

They actively participate in the world economic flow and constitute financial hubs in their respective regions.They have an advanced telecommunications infrastructure, as well as a vast, complex and unique cultural environment, which gives them their own personality .They are connected by an airport to the main commercial air routes of the world. In addition, they have complex internal systems of massive ground transportation.They have tourist importance and are the usual venue for renowned international events (such as the Soccer World Cup, or the Olympics ).They occupy large territorial extensions that are densely populated (conurbation).The typical features of a global city are: Global cities possess a vast, complex and unique cultural environment. However, it is the Department of Geography at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom that is the main promoter of the term, which should not be confused with that of “Global Village” . In it he refers to London, Tokyo, Paris and New York , as opposed to the term “megacities”. The concept of “global city” was coined by the sociologist Saskia Sassen in her book The Global City (1991). In short, they are relevant cities for the world order , that is to say, model cities of contemporary global capitalism .

These types of cities are contemporary equivalents to the city-states of antiquity . In fact, many of them have political and administrative autonomy, or even their own Constitution that determines their laws . Global cities are generally cities of international importance and renown . They occupy an extensive urban platform (and therefore with a huge population ) and play an active role in the economic, social and technological flow in their region, or even on the planet .

Global city index 2019