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作者

Sören Scholvin;Moritz Breul;Javier Revilla Diez

来源

URBAN GEOGRAPHY,Vol.40,Issue9,P.1291-1309

语言

英文

关键字

Gateway cities,world cities,global production networks,Singapore,oil and gas industry

作者单位

Institute of Economic and Cultural Geography, University of Hanover, Hanover, Germany

摘要

Gateway cities have received much attention from urban geographers. In spite of outstanding contributions being made, we think that the concept needs to be revisited with regard to regional development implications. Bringing together research on global production networks (GPNs) and world cities, this article shows that gateway cities are critical for development in networks, generating impulses for peripheral locations by engaging them in processes of “strategic coupling.” Yet, gateway cities also concentrate segments of GPNs to the detriment of their hinterlands. We conceptualize gateway cities with the aid of five features: logistics and transport, industrial processing, corporate control, service provision and knowledge generation. Our concept allows for an understanding of cities in global and regional economic processes beyond corporate headquarters, corporate services and governance – that is, beyond the boundaries of existing research. It unsettles traditional understandings of strategic coupling and world cities, filling a lacuna on city–hinterland connections.KEYWORDS: Gateway cities, world cities, global production networks, Singapore, oil and gas industryAcknowledgmentsWe presented a preliminary version of this article at a workshop at the University of Campinas (Brazil) in February 2016. We would like to thank Paula Bastos, Mariane Françoso, Celio Hiratuka, Patrícia Mello and Maurício Serra for their comments. The workshop served as a kick-off for the project “Gateway Cities and their Hinterland,” financed by the German Research Foundation and the São Paulo Research Foundation. We are also grateful for the feedback received while discussing this project with James Sidaway, Godfrey Yeung, Aidan Wong and Karen Lai from the Politics, Economies and Space Research Group at the National University of Singapore in October 2016. We owe particular thanks to Richard Grant, who made essential suggestions on a draft of this article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.