London’s economy has outperformed, and accelerated ahead of the rest of its nation, even after the crash.īut the relatively recent resurgence of both political and economic nationalism, associated with a somewhat ill-defined ‘populist’ politics, has thrown up a serious challenge to the assumptions that made ‘global cities’ so successful.

It even came out of the 2007/08 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. Over the last three decades or so, London has had all of the above in spades. They tend to benefit from access to relatively frictionless international trade and open migration policies at a national level. ‘Global cities’ tend to have powerful, services-dominated economies, attracting the most talented, highly-skilled workers from around the world, and vying for the head offices of multinational corporations and other foreign direct investment. But as we approach the thirtieth anniversary of The Global City, could the seemingly-unstoppable rise of such cities actually be coming to an end? Since Sassen’s book was published, the list has grown longer, and the cities arguably more powerful.

London was one of these cities at the time of publication in 1991, and it has continued to compete for the top spot in ‘global’ or ‘world city’ rankings ever since, across a range of indices.

It is nearly 30 years since the sociologist Saskia Sassen published her influential book, ‘ The Global City’, which identified a small group of powerful international cities that had become ‘command centres’ for an increasingly globalised economy. In this blog, Jack examines whether the end is in sight for global cities. Through our London Futures review, we’re examining the state of London today and considering possible futures for the city.

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