Transnational Centers

How space transformations and global economy techniques act in the large metropolises? Which is the distribution of the activities inward these locations keys? The concentration of globalized activities constitutes internationalized spaces in the heart of these large urban areas, once the biggest service companies develop vast multinationals networks, with specific geographic and institutional links.

This mechanics would produce a deep urban reorganization of these metropolises. Large projects of reurbanization and ‘rehabilitation’ of declining areas are developed, for new enterprise or residential uses, causing a large-scale reconstruction of the cities. A process that intensifies the discontinuities: disparity between locations, coexistence of empty spaces and extreme density.

The configuration of these transnational centers only can be carried through large-scale processes. The urban planning and redevelopment now depend on much more complex international factors, involving the attraction of large investments, on which - even in cases as Berlin, where the governmental participation is decisive - a control can only be limited.

References:
S. Sassen. The Global City. New Jersey, Princetown UP, 1991.