AUSTRALIAN CITIES IN THE WORLD CITY NETWORK, 2000-16

A public lecture Ben Derudder, Professor of Human Geography, Ghent University and 2016 Institute of Advanced Studies Short Stay Visiting Fellow.

In this public lecture, the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research network’s state-of the-art methodology and tailored data gathering is used to present a large-scale analysis of the trajectories of individual cities and regions in the world city network between 2000 and 2016. The GaWC methodology examines cities’ evolving network centralities by examining how advanced producer services firms “interlock” cities through their worldwide distributions of offices. The analyses are thereby not limited to a set of putative “world cities”, but incorporate 259 cities from all world-regions into a comprehensive global urban analysis. Absolute, relative and standardized measures of change are developed to reveal the major dimensions of geographical shift in an increasingly urbanized global economy. In the overview of results, specific attention is given to the position of Australian cities. Finally, drawing on findings from a long-term research project conducted by The University of Western Australia’s School of Earth and Environment examining the impact of globalisation on Perth and the role of Australian cities in the world city network, the need for parallel approaches that are better tailored to understanding Australian cities will be discussed.

For more details about this event, visit the event webpage www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/derudder