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Global Cities, Systemic Power, and Upper-Middle-Class Influence

San Jose State University

Perhaps the central feature distinguishing global cities from nonglobal ones is transnational connectedness. But another important consideration in urban globalization is the disproportion-ately high presence of upper middle class (UMC) whose membership includes institutional professionals at the forefront of postmodern awareness and international experience. Symbolized by a lifestyle genre, the UMC is more than a marker of the global city. It exerts a subliminal influence that prescribes the cityscape policy that outcomes planners emphasize to ensure principal membership for the city in global exchange. The author theorizes about this relationship under-lying global-city development, proposes a construct for each variable, presents some preliminary empirical evidence of the association, and draws some implications about its social impacts.

Key Words: global cities • upper middle class (UMC) • globalization • UMC genre • social liberalism • policy making

Urban Affairs Review, Vol. 38, No. 6, 808-830 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/1078087403038006003


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