Columbia University Global Thoughts Seminar in New York
"Global Power City Index: Toward an Urban Geopolitics"

The Mori Memorial Foundation's Institute for Urban Strategies presented the results of its research for the Global Power City Index (GPCI) at a seminar sponsored by the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University, home to GPCI steering committee member and renowned authority on urban globalism research, Dr. Saskia Sassen. The audience was comprised primarily of teaching staff and graduate students which lent a scholarly air to the proceedings.

Date and Time

November 10, 2009 15:00 - 16:30

Venue

Woods Auditorium at Avery Hall, Columbia University in the City of New York, USA

Title

Global Power City Index: Toward an Urban Geopolitics

Presenters

Heizo Takenaka
(Professor, Keio University / Chairman, Institute for Urban Strategies, the Mori Memorial Foundation)
Hiroo Ichikawa
(Dean, Professional Graduate School, Meiji University / Director, the Mori Memorial Foundation)
Saskia Sassen
(Professor, Columbia University / Committee on Global Thought)
Takayuki Kubo
(Researcher, Institute for Urban Strategies, the Mori Memorial Foundation)

Columbia University campus

Poster for the GPCI seminar

Avery Hall

Prior to the seminar's start, Columbia University program director for the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Benjamin Prosky, who had graciously made available the seminar space, provided some opening remarks. He was followed by Dr. Sassen who provided an explanation of the seminar's objectives. The Global Power City Index examines criteria such as user viewpoints and various urban functions when evaluating a city, and Professor Sassen shed some light on many of the issues that are competing and complementing in a global city. As a particular area of interest, she spoke about the appearance of urban geopolitical aspects in modern cities, and discussed the fact that the challenges confronting governance in global cities are becoming clear and a matter of urgent business. She went on to state that she hoped the seminar participants would realize for themselves through this research that the leadership being demonstrated by cities in political, corporate and economic arenas, is becoming more important than that of bureaucratic-led national policy.

Next, Heizo Takenaka, chairman of the Institute for Urban Strategies at the Mori Memorial Foundation, provided an explanation about the research that the institution has been engaged in. Professor Takenaka went on to explain that currently in the 21st century half of the world's population is living in cities. He stated that those same cities are facing a variety of challenges, and that solving their problems while preparing to hand over to future generations is becoming a part of the global agenda. Accompanying the progression of urban globalization is the further increasing intensity of international competition amongst cities. Amidst this competition, Professor Takenaka argued that as stakeholders, it is important for a variety of people to take part in the problem solving process while at the same time re-acknowledging the special characteristics possessed by each city. The Global City Power Index is a principal project of the Institute for Urban Strategies at the Mori Memorial Foundation. After sharing findings garnered from the index with seminar attendees, the most prominently learned people of New York, Professor Takenaka told the assembled group that he hoped all would work together in thinking about the global agenda.

Sassen announces the emerge of Urban Geopolitics in Global Cities

Takenaka emphasizes cities are confronting Global Agendas

Continuing on from Professor Takenaka, Professor Hiroo Ichikawa, Dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy at Meiji University, explained the findings of the 2009 edition of the Global City Power Index. First off, he congratulated the seminar participants about the fact that just like last year, New York had once again topped the standings. He went on to reveal that New York also demonstrated overwhelmingly strength in the separate rankings based on urban functions and the viewpoints of city users which are dived into 5 actor categories: managers, researchers, artists, visitors and residents. Additionally, he explained that although overall number one ranked New York and number two ranked London showed weaknesses in their livability and environmental functions, they did not permit other cities to keep up with them in the other functional categories. This in turn accounted for their superior comprehensive power rankings. On the other hand, though third place Paris and fourth place Tokyo showed above average results across all categories, the results also revealed that their overall allure and attractiveness was less than that of New York and London. Examining the index according to the five actor categories revealed that New York had placed first in four of them and second in the remaining one, indicating that the city was attractive from a city user point of view. Despite the fact that the city had received a low ranking in the environmental and livability functions, New York obtained a high evaluation from all actor groups. It was suggested to the audience that the city had unlimited power for attracting a great many people who, while willing to compromise on some aspects of their daily lives, felt a strong appeal for the opportunities the city presented.

Ichikawa and Sassen answer the questions from the participants

Manhattan has an absolute power besides the weak point like Superman

Lastly, Takayuki Kubo, an architect and currently a researcher at the Institute for Urban Strategies, gave a presentation titled "Central Tokyo vs. Manhattan." Regarding the conclusion drawn from the 2009 edition of the GPCI that New York is able to attract the best people and companies in the world, a comparison focusing on the city centers of Tokyo and New York was given. This enable the audience, comprised of people actually living in New York, to get a more realistic picture of the situation. When comparing each city's center on the same scale it was revealed that space utilization density in Manhattan was becoming far greater. Also, daytime populations of the two centers were approximately the same however there was a large difference in their nighttime populations. Additionally, Manhattan had more square footage of green park space and roadways, and it also had efficiently amassed cultural facilities such as museums. There was a large reaction from the audience when the sizable difference in accessibility to international airports from the city centers was visually presented. It was concluded that the structure of New York, with its vibrancy and concentration of various functions, continues to give it an edge that does not allow other cities to come near it in terms of attractiveness. Mr. Kubo closed the presentation by submitting to the assembled New Yorkers that it would be necessary for them to put forth even greater effort in the future if they were to maintain New York's current ranking going forward.

Kubo raised an agenda of New York City

Good questions and suggestions made the seminar fruitful

Many of the participants asked a lot of technical questions concerning factors such as the numerical conversion of the individual indicators and the weighting assigned to the various functions. Fluctuations in the ranking itself are caused by factors such as increases and decreases in the number of indicators and their weightings. No weighting is applied to the functional categories in the comprehensive ranking which is intended to measure the comprehensive power of cities. However, the audience was told that it is more important to recognize where each city's strengths and weaknesses placed globally, rather than on the order in which the cities appeared in the ranking. Additionally, no member of the audience gave an objection about the significance of US cities generally receiving low scores in the environmental category. Besides the technical discussions which occurred prior to the seminar's conclusion, varying opinions were exchanged regarding the potential use of the GPCI as an urban strategy tool and about the inclusion of additional cites to the index in the future. During informal talks amongst the relevant parties after the seminar, mutual friendships were able to be deepened by all. Professor Prosky suggested that everyone work cooperatively on projects such as comparative research on Tokyo and Manhattan and the Japan Week event being planned for next year.

Related Website

Columbia University Websites on the GPCI Seminar
http://cgt.columbia.edu/events/global_cities_power_index_presentation_of_a_research_project/
http://globalcenters.blogspot.com/2009/11/century-of-city_12.html

Overseas Websites introducing GPCI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ville_mondiale
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weltstadt