Comparing World City Networks by Language: A Complex-Network Approach

City networks are multiplex and diverse rather than being regarded as part of a single universal model that is valid worldwide. This study contributes to the debate on multiple globalizations by distinguishing multiscale structures of world city networks (WCNs) reflected in the Internet webpage content in English, German, and French. Using big data sets from web crawling, we adopted a complex-network approach with both macroscale and mesoscale analyses to compare global and grouping properties in varying WCNs, by using novel methods such as the weighted stochastic block model (WSBM). The results suggest that at the macro scale, the rankings of city centralities vary across languages due to the uneven geographic distribution of languages and the variant levels of globalization of cities perceived in different languages. At the meso scale, the WSBMs infer different grouping patterns in the WCNs by language, and the specific roles of many world cities vary with language. The probability-based comparative analyses reveal that the English WCN looks more globalized, while the French and German worlds appear more territorial. Using the mesoscale structure detected in the English WCN to comprehend the city networks in other languages may be biased. These findings demonstrate the importance of scrutinizing multiplex WCNs in different cultures and languages as well as discussing mesoscale structures in comparative WCN studies.

Introduction

This volume offers a bottom-up view of transborder informal exchanges across Asia and Eurasia and analyses their contention with the stateorchestrated One Belt One Road initiative. We argue that informal connectivity has a distinct logic and set of rules in terms of its organization, operation, and transactions. It constitutes a third way of globalization, alongside market-driven neoliberalism and state-led regionalism. The three modes of globalization differ in terms of the nature of actors, types of activities, rules of exchange, roles of the state, and major risks involved. Their clash and mesh prompt us to rethink the agency of global expansion, the nature of world city networks, and the linkage to the global value chain.

Unpacking the advanced producer services complex in world cities: Charting professional networks, localisation economies and markets

Limited empirical evidence in support of world-city formation has been the ‘dirty little secret’ of the eponymous research area. Since the late 1990s, inspired by Sassen’s account of The Global City, the field focused on advanced producer services (APS) firms as primary actors in world-city formation. While generating robust insights into the shifting geographies of world cities, empirical attention has mostly focused on mapping inter-urban world city networks formed by APS firms. Despite a rich literature on APS clusters, the degree to which specific intra-urban agglomerations and their inter-firm connections shape up has received little systematic attention. Based on a company survey in Brussels (Belgium), our study charts interactions between APS professionals to better understand the geographies, quality and intensity of their encounters. Our findings reveal that the Brussels-based APS cluster constitutes a hybrid of an industrial complex with stable formal ties and a social network based on informal exchange. Financial services assume a central position in what might be called ‘a para-financial services complex’, revealing close ties with legal services, accountancy and audit, and ICT. Geographically, we find that the APS complex depends on fine-grained localisation economies, which allow a small share of APS professionals to service both domestic and international clients. We conclude that APS actors in Brussels exhibit a strong domestic anchoring, indicative of the continued relevance of world cities as national financial centres amidst financial globalisation.

Graph-theoretic node importance mining in world city networks: methods and applications

Purpose This study aims to review the literature on graph-theoretic mining methods for node importance in both static and dynamic world city networks, which is correspondingly categorised by graph-theoretic node importance mining on network topologies and transmission mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach The authors overview the graph-theoretic indicators of node importance: centrality and power. Then, the methods of graph-theoretic node importance mining on network topologies are assessed with node relevance, centrality- and power-based measurements, heterogeneous fusion and other miscellaneous approaches. The latest progress in transmission mechanisms is also reviewed in this study involving network evolution, node immunisation and robustness in dynamics. Finally, the findings are analysed and future directions in this field are suggested. Findings The method development of node importance mining is driven by complex application-based problems within a transmission mechanism. Fusion measurements, based on centrality and power, are extended by other graph mining techniques in which power has a significant role. In conclusion, the trends of node importance mining focus on power-embedded fusion measurements in the transmission mechanism-based complex applications. Originality/value This is the first systematic literature review of node importance from the view of graph-theoretic mining.