Out of the ordinary? British cities in the world city network

Abstract

Over the past 20 years, world cities research has made a worthy attempt at mapping out the epistemological terra incognita in relation to the interface between contemporary globalization processes and an elite group of economically powerful cities. However, this has resulted in the construction of a theoretical object that seems inadequate when faced with the reality of global economic processes as they relate to less powerful, ‘ordinary’ cities throughout the world. Using relevant examples from the literature and introducing British provincial cities as a case study in order to contextualise the argument, this paper is intended to contribute to the growing body of work that seeks to challenge the conceptual and methodological approaches of the dominant world cities literature.

Key words:

• world cities literature
• ‘ordinary’ cities
• connectivity