Commodity Chains and World Cities

Transnational spatial relations offer a key point from which to study the geographies of contemporary globalization. This book assesses the possible cross-fertilization between two of the most notable analytical frameworks in this area: the world city network (WCN) framework, in which researchers have studied the emergence of a globalized urban system; and secondly, the global commodity chain (GCC) framework, in which researchers have scrutinized the interconnected functions, operations and transactions through which specific goods are produced, distributed and consumed in a globalized economy.

Both literatures have emerged as critiques of conventional, state-centric social science interpretations of their subject matters, and they both propose what might be called ‘global network alternatives’. Bringing together contributions of key researchers from human geography, economics, and sociology, the editors take advantage of this parallel to investigate how both models may benefit from each other.