"Since the mid-1990s, research on global cities has exploded throughout the social sciences. It has now become one of the most exciting, if controversial, approaches to the study of urban life today." "Fifty generous selections, including contributions from John Friedmann, Michael Peter Smith, Saskia Sassen, Peter J. Taylor, Manuel Castells and Anthony D. King, explore the interrelationships between cities and globalization. The seven parts with accompanying editorial introductions guide the student through the key theoretical, methodological and empirical debates." "The Global Cities Reader explores the major foundations of research on globalized urbanization. Classic and contemporary case studies of globalizing cities from Europe, North America and East Asia as well as from emerging world city regions of the global South are presented. The political and cultural dimensions of global city formation are examined in separate parts. The Reader concludes by examining the refinement and critique of global cities research since the 1990s."--Jacket.