The network paradigm has been highly influential in spatial analysis in the globalisation era. As economies across the world have become increasingly integrated, so-called global cities have come to play a growing role as central nodes in the networked global economy. The idea that a city’s position in global networks benefits its economic performance has resulted in a competitive policy focus on promoting the economic growth of cities by improving their network connectivity. However, in spite of the attention being given to boosting city connectivity little is known about whether this directly translates to improved city economic performance and, if so, how well connected a city needs to be in order to benefit from this. In this paper we test the relationship between network connectivity and economic performance between 2000 and 2008 for cities with over 500,000 inhabitants in Europe and the USA to inform European policy.
AldersonASBeckfieldJSprague-JonesJ (2004) Power and position in the world city system. American Journal of Sociology109(4): 811–851.
2.
AminAThriftN (1992) Neo-Marshallian nodes in global networks. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research16: 571–587.
3.
AndersenBHowellsJHullR. (2000) Knowledge and Innovation in the New Service Economy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
4.
ArrighiG (1994) The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of Our Times. New York: Verso.
5.
BatheltHMalmbergAMaskellP (2004) Clusters and knowledge: Local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation. Progress in Human Geography28(1): 31–56.
6.
BeaverstockJSmithRTaylorPJ (2000a) World city network: A new metageography?Annals of the Association of American Geographers90: 123–134.
7.
BeaverstockJSmithRTaylorPJ. (2000b) Globalization and world cities: Some measurement methodologies. Applied Geography20: 43–63.
8.
BeriatosEGospodiniA (2004) ‘Glocalising’ urban landscapes: Athens and the 2004 Olympics. Cities21(3): 187–202.
9.
BraudelF (1985) La Dynamique du Capitalisme. Paris: Arthaud.
10.
BrennerN (1998) Global cities, glocal states: Global city formation and state territorial restructuring in contemporary Europe. Review of International Political Economy5: 1–37.
11.
BrennerNTheodoreN (2002) Spaces of Neoliberalism: Urban Restructuring in North America and Europe. Oxford: Wiley.
BreschiSLissoniF (2003) Mobility and social networks: Localised knowledge spillovers revisited. CESPRI Working Papers 142. CESPRI, Centre for Research on Innovation and Internationalisation. Milano, Italy: Universita Bocconi.
14.
CamagniR (1993) From city hierarchy to city networks: Reflections about an emerging paradigm. In: LakshmananTR and NijkampP (eds) Structure and Change in the Space Economy: Festschrift in Honour of Martin Beckmann. Berlin: Springer Verlag, pp. 66–87.
15.
CapelloR (2000) The city network paradigm: Measuring urban network externalities. Urban Studies37(11): 1925–1945.
16.
CastellsM (1996) The Rise of Network Society. Cambridge, MA/Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
17.
CoeNMBunnellTG (2003) ‘Spatialising’ knowledge communities: Towards a conceptualisation of transnational innovation networks. Global Networks3(4): 437–456.
18.
DavidQPeetersDVan HammeG. (2013) Is bigger better? Economic performances of European cities, 1960–2009. Cities35: 237–254.
19.
DerudderBWitloxF (2005) An appraisal of the use of airline data in assessments of the world city network. Urban Studies42(13): 2371–2388.
20.
DijkstraLGarcilazoEMcCannP (2013) The economic performance of European cities and city regions: Myths and realities. European Planning Studies21(3): 334–354.
21.
DucruetCJurieVLe CamM. (2014) European cities in global networks. In: PainKVan HammeG (eds) Changing Urban and Regional Relations in a Globalizing World: Europe as a Global Macro-Region. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 103–115.
22.
European Commission (1999) European Spatial Development Perspective (ESDP) Towards Balanced and Sustainable Development of the Territory of the EU. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
23.
European Commission (2009a) Lisbon Treaty (unconsolidated). Brussels: Commission of the European Communities.
24.
European Commission (2009b) Regions Benefitting from Globalization and Increased Trade Liberalization. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities.
25.
European Commission (2010) Europe 2020: A Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth. Brussels: Commission of the European Communities.
26.
European Commission (2011) Territorial Agenda of the European Union 2020 – Towards an Inclusive, Smart and Sustainable Europe of Diverse Regions. 19 May, Godollo, Hungary (TA2020). Brussels: Commission of the European Communities.
27.
European Council (2000) Presidency Conclusions – Lisbon European Council, 23 and 24 March. Brussels: European Council.
28.
FloridaR (2008) Who’s Your City? How the Creative Economy in Making Where to Live the most Important Decision of Your Life. New York: Basic Books.
29.
FriedmannJ (1986) The world city hypothesis. Development and Change17(1): 69–83.
30.
FriedmannJWolffG (1982) World city formation: An agenda for research and action. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research6: 309–344.
31.
GertlerMS (2003) Tacit knowledge and the economic geography of context, or the undefinable tacitness of being (there). Journal of Economic Geography3: 75–99.
32.
Greater London Authority (GLA) (2014) Draft Further Alterations to the London Plan. January2014, London: Mayor of London.
33.
HarveyD (1989) From managerialism to entrepreneurialism: The transformation in urban governance in late capitalism. Geografiska Annaler, Series B71(1): 3–18.
JacobsJ (1961) The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House.
36.
JacobsJ (1970) The Economy of Cities. New York: Vintage Books.
37.
JacobsWDucruetCDe LangenPW (2010) Integrating world cities into production networks: The case of port cities. Global Networks10(1): 92–113.
38.
JohnsonCHuRAbedinS (eds) (2008) Connecting Cities: Networks. 9th World Congress of Metropolis. Sydney: Metropolis Congress.
39.
KrugmanP (1996) Pop Internationalism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
40.
LATTS, Géographie-Cités, IGEAT, IGUL, LVMT (2011) Analyse comparée des métropoles européennes. Rapport final pour la DATAR.
41.
LoganJMolotchH (1987) Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
42.
London Economics (2009) The Importance of Wholesale Financial Services to the EU Economy 2009. London: City of London.
43.
MaXTimberlakeMF (2013) World city typologies and national city system deterritorialization: USA, China, and Japan. Urban Studies50(2): 255–275.
44.
MahroumSHugginsRClaytonN. (2008) Innovation by Adoption: Measuring and Mapping Absorptive Capacity in UK Nations and Regions. October2008. London: National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).
45.
MartinR (2008) National growth versus spatial equality? A cautionary note on the new ‘trade-off’ thinking in regional policy discourse. Regional Science Policy and Practice1: 3–13.
46.
MartinRKitsonMTylerP (2006) Regional competitiveness: A key but elusive concept. In: MartinRKitsonMTylerP (eds) Regional Competitiveness. London: Routledge, pp. 1–10.
47.
MolotchH (1976) The city as a growth machine: Towards a political economy of place. American Journal of Sociology82: 309–332.
48.
MoodyssonJNilssonMSvennsson HenningM (2005) Contextualizing clusters in time and space: Long-term dynamics, systems of regions, and extra-regional interdependencies. Paper presented at the DRUID Tenth Anniversary Summer Conference on Dynamics of Industry and Innovation: Organizations, Networks and Systems, 27–29 June, Copenhagen, Denmark. Available at: http://www.druid.dk/uploads/tx_picturedb/ds2005-1479.pdf.
49.
National Endowment for Science, Technology, the Arts (NESTA) (2008) Absorbing Global Innovations: Access, Anchor, Diffuse. Policy Briefing AGI/29. London: NESTA.
50.
NealZ (2011) The causal relationship between employment and business networks in U.S. cities. Journal of Urban Affairs33(2): 167–181.
51.
NealZ (2012) Creative employment and jet set cities: Disentangling causal effects. Urban Studies49(12): 2693–2709.
52.
OldsKYeungHW-C (2004) Pathways to global city formation: A view from the developmental city-state of Singapore. Review of International Political Economy11: 489–521.
53.
Oxford Economics (2011) London’s Competitive Place in the UK and Global Economies. Report for the City of London Economic Development Office, Oxford/London, Oxford Economics/City of London.
54.
PainK (2008) Examining core-periphery relationships in a global mega-city region – The case of London and South East England. Regional Studies42(8): 1161–1172.
55.
PainK (2011) ‘New worlds for old’? Twenty-first-century gateways and corridors: Reflections on a European spatial perspective. International Journal of Urban & Regional Research35: 1154–1174.
PorteousD (1999) The development of financial centres: Location, information, externalities and path dependence. In: MartinR (ed.) Money and the Space Economy. London: Wiley, pp. 95–114.
58.
PorterME (1990) The Competitive Advantage of Nations. New York: Free Press.
59.
PorterME (1995) The competitive advantage of the inner city. Harvard Business ReviewMay–June: 53–71.
60.
PorterME (1998) Clusters and the new economics of competitiveness. Harvard Business ReviewDecember: 77–90.
61.
PorterME (2006) The economic performances of regions. In: KitsonMMartinRTylerP (eds) Regional Competitiveness. London: Routledge, pp. 131–160.
62.
PrykeA (1991) An international city going ‘global’: Spatial change in the City of London. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space9: 197–222.
63.
PrykeMLeeR (1995) Place your bets: Towards an understanding of globalization, socio-financial engineering and competition within a financial centre. Urban Studies32(2): 329–344.
64.
RobinsonJ (2002) Global and world cities: A view from off the map. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research26: 531–554.
65.
RozenblatC (2008) Opening the black box of agglomeration economies for measuring cities competitiveness through international firm networks. Urban Studies47: 2841–2865.
66.
RozenblatCPfliegerG (2010) Introduction. Urban networks and network theory: The city as the connector of multiple networks. Urban Studies47: 2723–2735.
67.
SassenS (1991) The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. (1st edition). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
68.
SassenS (1994) Cities in a World Economy. London: Pine Forge Press.
69.
SassenS (1996) Cities and communities in the global economy. American Behavioural Scientist39(5): 629–639.
70.
SassenS (2001) The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo. (2nd edition). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
71.
SassenS (2007) Whither global cities: The analytics and the debates. In: BrysonJDanielsP (eds) The Handbook of Service Industries. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 186–208.
72.
ScottA (2001) Globalization and the rise of city-regions. European Planning Studies9(7): 813–826.
73.
ShortJR (2004) Black holes and loose connections in the global urban network. The Professional Geographer56(2): 295–302.
74.
SmithDATimberlakeMF (1995) Cities in global matrices: Toward mapping the world-system’s city-system. In: KnoxPTaylorP (eds) World Cities in a World-System. New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 79–97.
75.
SmithDATimberlakeMF (2001) World city networks and hierarchies, 1977–1997: An empirical analysis of global air travel links. American Behavioral Scientist44(10): 1656–1678.
76.
StorperM (1997) The Regional World: Territorial Development in a Global Economy. New York: Guilford Press.
77.
SwyngedouwEMoulaertFRodriguezA (2002) Neoliberal urbanization in Europe: Large-scale urban development projects and the new urban policy. Antipode34(3): 542–577.
78.
TaylorPJ (2001) Specification of the world city network. Geographical Analysis33: 181–194.
79.
TaylorPJ (2004) World City Network: A Global Urban Analysis. London: Routledge.
80.
TaylorPJ (2006) Cities within spaces of flows: Theses for a materialist understanding of the external relations of cities. In: TaylorPDerudderBSaeyP. (eds) Cities in Globalization. London: Routledge, pp. 287–297.
81.
TaylorPJ (2012) The interlocking network model. In: DerudderBHoylerMTaylorPJ. (eds) International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 51–63.
82.
TaylorPJAranyaR (2008) A global ‘urban roller coaster’? Connectivity changes in the world city network, 2000–2004. Regional Studies42(1): 1–16.
83.
TaylorPJBeaverstockJVCookG. (2003) Financial Services Clustering and its Significance for London. London: Corporation of London.
84.
TaylorPJWalkerDRFBeaverstockJV (2002) Firms and their global service networks. In: SassenS (ed.) Global Networks, Linked Cities. New York/London: Routledge, pp. 93–115.
85.
TimberlakeMFSmithDA (2012) Global cities and world city networks. In: BabonesSJChase-DunnC (eds) The Routledge Handbook of World-Systems Analysis. Abingdon/New York: Routledge, pp. 247–255.
86.
Van CriekingenMDecrolyJM (2009) Le Plan de Développement International de Bruxelles (PDI). Promesses de développements immobiliers et d’inégalités croissantes?Brussels Studies25: 1–15.
Van HammeGPionG (2012) The relevance of the world-system approach in the era of globalization of economic flows and networks. Geografiska Annaler: Series B94(1): 65–82.
89.
Van HammeGVan CriekingenM (2012) Compétitivité économique et question sociale: Les illusions des politiques de développement à Bruxelles. Métropoles11. Available at: http://metropoles.revues.org/4550.
