RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, London, 26-29 August 2014
CFP: Global City Makers: Actors and Practices in the World City Network
Convenors:
Michael Hoyler, Loughborough University, UK, [log in to unmask]
Christof Parnreiter, University of Hamburg, Germany,
[log in to unmask]
Allan Watson, Staffordshire University, UK, [log in to unmask]
Format: Paper session(s); five 15 minute presentations each with 5
minutes for questions
Since the development of the interlocking network model to conceptualise
the structure and dynamics of the world city network (Taylor 2001), the
global city debate has seen a strong emphasis on quantitative empirical
research. This work has considerably deepened our knowledge of
transnational relational firm and city networks. However, a number of
limitations of this methodological approach have also been pointed out,
leading some researchers to identify a ‘theoretical impasse’ in recent
global city research (Beaverstock 2011). Others have suggested that
increasingly sophisticated quantitative analyses of the structure and
dynamics of the world city network contribute little to elucidate the
management and coordination functions central to Sassen’s (1991)
analysis of global cities (Parnreiter 2012).
Responding to these critiques, we invite contributions that focus on
economic actors and their practices in the formation of global cities
and the world city network. We welcome papers that follow a
conceptualisation of global cities as places from where the world
economy is managed and controlled through the practices of advanced
producer service firms. We particularly invite papers that employ a case
study approach to ‘global city makers’ as well as papers that develop
new theoretical or methodological foundations for agency-focused global
city research. Potential topics include:
·the making of global locational strategies in advanced producer service
firms and other global ‘network makers’;
·the involvement of advanced producer service firms in the management
and governance of global commodity chains;
·the role of advanced producer service firms in the financialisation of
corporations;
·the management of knowledge flows in global firm networks;
·the changing relationship between the state, supranational institutions
and global city makers;
·practice and performativity in the making of global economic networks;
·the potential role of other service firms in the management and
governance of the world economy (e.g. logistics, media);
·and methodological advances in global city research such as qualitative
network analysis.
We aim to attract contributions that engage critically and
constructively with current global city research from an economic
geography perspective, and which suggest innovative avenues for its
theoretical, methodological and empirical development.
Please send abstracts (250 words maximum) to Michael Hoyler
([log in to unmask]), Christof Parnreiter
([log in to unmask]) and Allan Watson
([log in to unmask] ) by Friday, 14th February 2014.
--
Michael Hoyler
Senior Lecturer in Human Geography
Associate Director, Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) Research Network
Department of Geography
Loughborough University
Loughborough LE11 3TU
UK
Tel: +44 (0)1509 222740
Fax: +44 (0)1509 223930
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/gawc/
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