The repositioning of urban cities and urban regions in a global economy: pushing policy and governance options

Abstract

This paper addresses two critical urban and regional policy issues. One concerns actual shifts in the scales, spaces and contents of economic activity focusing in three types of critical processes: The ongoing formation of global cities; the novel trend towards the formation of mega-regions and the expansion of cross-border flows connecting cities at diverse levels of the urban hierarchy The second concerns the needed shifis in our interpretations and policy frameworks to adjust to these novel trends and maximize their benefits and distributive potential, examining some of the key challenges these developments generate for globalising cities and urban areas, from economic to social.

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