World's largest cities

World city

A city that acts as a major centre for finance, trade, business, politics, culture, science, publishing etc Serving not just one country or region Influence on global scale Wide range of jobs E.g. New York, London, Tokyo

Millionaire city

A city with over a million inhabitants E.g Paris - 9.6m

Mega city

A metropolitan area with a total population of over 10 million Density over 2000 persons/km2 Only 20 - 15 in developing world E.g. Sao Paulo - 17.7m

World cities: resource centres

Access to knowledge in cities attracts companies Improves innovation and entrepreneurship Technology - available to anyone (codified knowledge) Tacit knowledge - depends on face to face contact

World cities: learning centres

Companies grow and develop if they can learn Networks of learning - clusters of unis and other educational institutions

Sub world cities

National capital cities Specialised cities - act as commercial/cultural capitals Smaller - 1-4m Compete with world cities in their specialised function E.g. Brussels - gov, Frankfurt - banking

World cities: centres of spatial proximity

Tacit knowledge likely to exist in CBDs, uni, science parks Meetings take place on regular basis - new ideas More likely to occur in area of high concentration of people and activities Many opportunities for interaction and knowledge sharing